§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the latest European Economic proposals for agricultural price increases in terms of £ sterling, the amount of the increase, the United Kingdom consumption of each of the products in question, and the total cost to the consumer in each case assuming that the return to the farmer goes up by the whole of the increase and that not less than this amount is passed on to consumers.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerI refer the hon. Member to the statement I made on 19 May. I shall shortly be placing a note giving further details of the settlement in the Library. My right hon. Friend provided information on United Kingdom consumption of various products in a reply which he gave to the hon. Member on 8 December 1981—[Vol. 14, c.366.]. As regards the cost to the consumer, market conditions and the nature of support arrangements mean that the assumptions proposed by the hon. Member are not realistic. I indicated in my statement that the effect of the settlement on the retail price index over a full year will be a quarter of 1 per cent. and on the food price index over a full year 1¼ per cent., and that the consumer benefit of the beef premium scheme, sheepmeat regime and the continuation of the butter subsidy will be worth some hundreds of millions of pounds, depending on the market situation.