HC Deb 21 February 1983 vol 37 cc312-3W
Mr. Leighton

asked the Prime Minister if she will work for a reform of the European Community budget by restructuring expenditure away from agriculture through a price freeze on those goods in structural surplus.

The Prime Minister

The Government's aim remains that the rate of increase of the Community's agricultural guarantee spending should be markedly lower than that of own resources, thus reducing agriculture's share of the budget. Our approach to the fixing of Community agricultural support prices for 1983–84 has been explained by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in his statements to the House on 19 January and 9 February.