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Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Janet Fookes): Order. Time is up.
Beef Ban
1 pm
Mr. Graham Riddick (Colne Valley): I welcome the opportunity to initiate a debate on the European Union ban on beef exports. When I spoke in the two-day debate on 16 May, I said that the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis was a disaster for the farming industry. That disaster continues for many farmers who are struggling to keep going and plan for the future. There is, however, rather more clarity than there was seven weeks ago. The cull of cattle over 30 months is now fully under way, and there is some light at the end of the tunnel in respect of the European Union ban on beef exports.
My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture knows that, on five separate occasions, I have voiced my deep objections to the European Union worldwide ban on British beef exports. The Government have made it clear that they consider the ban illegal. I have made the point that, if we regard the worldwide ban as illegal, we should behave accordingly. The most appropriate response would be actively to promote the sale of British beef to third countries. Although we have made progress as a result of the Florence summit, we should not entirely dismiss that option, in case the EU proves rather less co-operative post-Florence than we expect it to be.
I was encouraged by the fact that, last week, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister was able to set out a fairly specific timetable for the lifting of the export ban. Clearly, progress has been made with our European partners, and I have no doubt that the Government's policy of non-co-operation contributed to that, as it helped to concentrate minds. Without it, I have little doubt that our European partners would have maintained a complete ban on the export of British beef, with no prospect of it being lifted, if only because it helps their home farming industries.
It is somewhat ironic that the beef industries in some countries on the continent have suffered even more than our own. The EU's hasty and ill-judged ban on British beef exports contributed to the sense of crisis that has so reduced consumer confidence on the continent. However, French and Irish exporters--and no doubt others, too--are now supplying beef to many of the lucrative markets that British beef exporters have had to forgo.
Of course, we in Britain have been deeply upset by the EU ban on the export of British beef, but what has truly outraged so many people is not so much that British beef has been banned from sale to other EU member states, as that the EU has banned the sale of British beef to every other country in the rest of the world. I find that totally unacceptable.
Sir Donald Thompson (Calder Valley):
It is obnoxious.
Mr. Riddick:
As my hon. Friend says, it is obnoxious, and I am pleased that the Government are challenging that aspect of the ban in the European courts. I also welcome the declaration in the presidency conclusions that the European Commission will consider any third country request for the supply of British beef.
Perhaps it would be helpful if I put on record exactly what the Florence European Council said in its presidency conclusions:
Mr. Riddick:
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who has prepared the ground for what I shall say later in my speech.
I remind the House exactly what my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister said in his statement on 24 June after the Florence summit:
My hon. Friend might be interested to know that, at the end of the order, the buyer adds:
The delivery of the order depends on the ability of the South African company to get an import licence from the South African Government. When the South Africa Agriculture Minister recently visited the country, he said:
Following a little prompting from me during the debate on 16 May, my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food said:
The South Africans want our beef, and believe it to be safe to eat. It is therefore a major test of the good faith of the European Commission and our European partners. If they stand in the way of the execution of export orders, they will be acting in bad faith.
The EU ban has been justified on the grounds of preventing deflections of trade--in other words, to stop exports to third countries from being re-exported back to the EU. In my view, that is disingenuous. Because of the enormous subsidy to exporters to bring the export prices down from the inflated CAP prices to world prices, elaborate systems must be undergone. Importing countries sign import entry certificates confirming that the beef is for home consumption. Furthermore, levies on imports into the European Union are higher than export refunds that exporters receive. In practice, therefore, to re-export to the EU would be costly and pointless, especially from a country as far away as South Africa.
As far as I am aware, this order is the first firm and specific one received from outside the EU since the beef crisis began. I hope and believe that the European Commission will allow it to be delivered, and that it is the beginning of the resumption of export trade, at least with third countries outside the EU.
Mr. Martin Richardson, the managing director of First City Trading Ltd., tells me that he has other customers in South Africa who would like to place orders for British beef, and that he has no doubt that he could drum up business from other countries. It is time that some semblance of normality in the export business was restored, and that Mr. Richardson and his colleagues were allowed to get on with what they know best: helping to improve Britain's balance of trade.
There is, however, one problem. First City Trading and other companies involved in the export business have been in danger of going out of business. Since taking an interest in the export business, I have been struck by how enormously complicated it is. We cannot afford to lose the expertise of people such as Mr. Richardson. Such expertise has taken some years to develop. Beef exporters are still having to take receipt of beef which was turned back from third countries before the crisis blew up.
My hon. Friend the Minister will be aware that beef exporters have requested that they be included in the compensation scheme, and the Government need to consider that request, for two reasons. First, we do not want expertise that has been built up and encouraged by Government policy, which has provided subsidies, to disappear, because it would take a long time to rebuild.
Secondly, if the beef exporters find that they are unable to pay their export refunds, their guarantors, which are mainly banks and insurance companies, will be approached. That could have a serious effect on the confidence of banks and insurance companies in providing guarantees for any other goods under the common agricultural policy. Will my hon. Friend address that point? The simplest solution could be for the Government to buy the beef that has been returned to this country.
"The presidency declared that if, in the meantime, a third country requests a supply of British beef exclusively for its domestic market, the request will be examined by the Commission within the overall framework after consulting the appropriate scientific and veterinary committees."
Mr. David Nicholson (Taunton):
Does that not suggest that we should swiftly seek evidence of progress? Do we not expect a determination in our favour by the European Court in a matter of days, or possibly a few weeks? However, my hon. Friend will know that President Mandela of South Africa is coming here next week. His visit will provide us with an opportunity to make an agreement to export beef to South Africa, and we would not expect the European Community to obstruct such an agreement.
"the Commission will consider individual requests from third countries to buy British beef exclusively for their domestic markets. If such requests come forward soon, I hope that, either through Commission procedures or the European Court case, exports from Britain to third countries will begin to flow".--[Official Report, 24 June 1996; Vol. 280, c. 22.]
When I have suggested that the British Government should simply ignore the worldwide ban, the response has been that there is no demand from overseas for British beef, and no orders have been received. I am pleased to tell the House that I have here a copy of a very firm order that was received by a British firm called First City Trading from a South African company called Brito's in Cape Province for 360 tonnes of frozen beef flanks. We have great difficulty in finding markets for beef flanks. The order amounts to 120 tonnes a month for July, August and September. The total value of the order is almost £250,000.
"For your information there is now a lot of French flanks being offered to this market as well as the normal Irish offers".
I know that First City Trading, which is based in London, has purchased some beef from traders in Yorkshire, so I hope that the order will be delivered by one of the Yorkshire meat traders.
"We would like to have British beef back on our markets--safe as prescribed by British standards and by our standards."
South African vets have looked extremely closely at all the controls imposed on the beef industry, and found them extremely rigorous. They believe that British beef is safe. I am confident, therefore, that the South African Government will be prepared to grant an import licence, but it is essential that we allow the beef to be exported in the first place.
"Although it has not happened yet, if someone comes knocking at my door to say that he has an order from a third market, of course we shall consider that."--[Official Report, 16 May 1996; Vol. 277, c. 1092.]
The EU communique said much the same thing.
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