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Mr. Hogg: Of course, it is important to try to engage and retain the confidence of the consumer--that is central. I do not, however, agree with the hon. Gentleman's conclusion. It is perfectly true that the Ministry of Agriculture has always had a high regard for the interests of the producer, and rightly so. But our paramount obligation and duty is not to the producer: it is to the consumer. My Department's overriding obligation is to ensure the safety and quality of British food.
Mr. Peter Hardy (Wentworth): Will the Minister assure the House that the Department's secret priority is not the promotion of ostrich farming?
Mr. Hogg: That issue has never crossed my desk.
Mr. Alan W. Williams (Carmarthen): Scrapie in sheep was made a notifiable disease in 1992. Has the incidence of scrapie increased since then? Is there not a case, as the president of the Royal Society makes clear in his press statement today, for the Government to explore the possibility of a programme to eradicate scrapie in sheep?
Mr. Hogg: Yes, there is. We must clearly develop a strategy designed to achieve, in the medium to long term,
the eradication of scrapie from the national flock. Meanwhile, we need to determine whether our existing scrapie controls and regulations are adequate. I propose to direct that that be done. We also need to carry out research to determine, as best we can, the present incidence of scrapie in the national flock.
Mr. Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston): Is the Minister aware that I spent several hours over the Whit weekend assisting a farmer because the Intervention Board's telephone service was unmanned for the whole holiday period? Given the Government's failure to respond to inquiries that I have initiated, will the Minister assure the House that every possible support will be given to farmers with inquiries about his statement--over the telephone and by other means--during the coming holiday period? Will he also use such services as a way of collecting data from farmers, to assist with the important research that is necessary?
Mr. Hogg: We have greatly improved the communication policies that we have been pursuing. It is important to do our utmost to keep the producers informed. We have established helplines; we have been writing direct to farmers. We have been issuing newsletters and publishing advertisements in the farming press. We shall certainly see how we can reinforce that approach.
Mr. Barry Jones (Alyn and Deeside): I welcome the right hon. and learned Gentleman's statement. May I emphasise to him the massive size of the Welsh flock? Were anything like what has happened to beef to happen to sheepmeat in Wales, our rural communities would face ruin.
Where are Welsh Office Ministers today? What discussions has the Minister had with them to safeguard our industry?
Mr. Hogg:
My understanding is that the relevant Welsh Office Minister is at the Welsh show, which is where I expect the hon. Gentleman would want him to be.
Mr. Brian Wilson (Cunninghame, North):
Does the Minister accept that many sheep producers in constituencies such as mine work in the most marginal agricultural areas and are already right up to the wire, financially speaking--not least because of the erosion of Government support for those areas, particularly in the form of hill livestock compensatory allowances? If they are to suffer losses from a slump in market confidence, will the Minister reassure us that, in so far as it is within the power of the Government to do so, they will adjust the various forms of agricultural support so that, for once, hill farmers in marginal areas will be given a decent deal?
Mr. Hogg:
The truth is that all these things depend on consumer confidence. My own clear feeling is that there is absolutely no reason why consumers' confidence in lamb should be damaged by what has been said here today or at the Agriculture Council.
4.9 pm
Ms Angela Eagle (Wallasey): On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Yesterday, the Prime Minister told the House:
- "No one can buy access to Ministers."--[Official Report, 23 July 1996; Vol. 282, c. 144.]
- "The Premier Club is also a forum for leading businessmen to meet and interact, and to forge closer relationships with senior Conservative politicians."
Madam Speaker: If the hon. Lady feels that that is a matter for the Commissioner, she must refer it. I remind the House that we will have a debate later today on the code of conduct, during which that matter may arise.
BILL PRESENTED
Regulation of the Wheelclamping Industry
Mrs. Diana Maddock, supported by Mr. David Atkinson, Ms Glenda Jackson, Mr. A. J. Beith, Mr. Gary Waller, Mr. Bruce George, Mr. Alex Carlile, Mr. Peter Thurnham, Mr. Alan Simpson, Mr. David Rendel, Mr. Paul Flynn and Mr. Matthew Taylor, presented a Bill to make provision for the licensing of private wheelclamp operators by local authorities and for connected purposes: And the same was read the First time; and ordered to be read a Second time upon Wednesday 16 October and to be printed. [Bill 188.]
Union Flag
4.12 pm
Mr. Michael Fabricant (Mid-Staffordshire): I beg to move,
- That leave be given to bring in a Bill to facilitate and promote the flying of the Union Flag; to enable Government construction projects to be identified with the Union Flag; and to promote the union of the United Kingdom.
The article stated that The Sunday Times had commissioned an NOP poll for the magazine, which showed that
Mr. George Foulkes (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley):
On a point of order, Madam Speaker. Much against my better judgment, I have been listening to the hon. Member for Mid-Staffordshire (Mr. Fabricant), and not once has he mentioned the subject of his Bill--the Union flag. All he has said is totally irrelevant to the Bill that he is purporting to introduce.
Madam Speaker:
The hon. Member's introduction has been quite long, but he may now be coming to the flag. Is that right?
Madam Speaker:
I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is wearing the right colours today.
Mr. Fabricant:
The point is that the final sentence of the article states:
Thanks to Gordon on the Opposition Front Bench, we have become a nation of gloom--new Labour, new glums. I want to bring a little colour back to the United Kingdom. I want to fly the red, white and blue. About 3 million Britons go to America every year, and they see the stars and stripes flying in petrol station forecourts, outside people's homes, outside schools and on public buildings. But we do not see our flag flying here.
Why is that? First, it is due to planning permission, and my Bill will seek to change planning permission measures. To fly a flag, one needs a flagpole, and--astonishingly enough--one needs planning permission for that. My Bill will seek to ensure that--providing it is to fly the British flag--planning permission will not be necessary for a flagpole.
Secondly, during my researches, I found that, amazingly, Government buildings are allowed to fly the flag on only 20 days in a year, and on extra special days as specified by the Queen through the Lord Chamberlain. My Bill would allow--nay, would encourage--Government buildings to fly it 365 days a year. I would like it to be flown in schools, outside petrol forecourts, in people's front gardens and in offices. We should be proud of the Union.
I have had letters of encouragement from people from all parts of the country. Mr. Egerton, of Dinas Powys in the Vale of Glamorgan, wrote:
This Bill is not only about patriotism; it is about taking the flag away from the National Front and the fascists, who more or less possessed it in the 1960s and 1970s. The Bill gives the flag back to the people. The greatest threat it faces comes not from anyone who might be unpatriotic enough to oppose it today, but from a Labour Government.
Madam Speaker, I can see you asking me why that should be so. It is Labour policy to promote devolution. Devolution would light the long fuse that would
inevitably lead to the break-up of the UK. That would be damaging, because, great as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are, they are made all the greater because we are one nation--the United Kingdom. That would be threatened by a Labour Government.
A Labour Government would give up all our powers of veto in Europe. The Union flag would become the white flag of surrender. For that reason, the Bill not only promotes a flag to be flown from a flagpole, but is a reminder to everyone that the Conservative party and the Government stand for the great union that is the Union of the United Kingdom.
The greatest son of Lichfield is Samuel Johnson, who said:
"people are either unaware of, or unwilling to believe in, Britain's achievements."
The article stated:
"Measured in terms of gross domestic product, Britain vies for fifth place . . . in the world rankings. But most people think that Britain's economy is far less important . . . Only 22 per cent. correctly plumped for the fifth biggest."
The article continued:
"Only 27 per cent. think Britain has a lower unemployment rate than Germany, France and Sweden . . . But unemployment in Britain is only 7.7 per cent. of the workforce, compared with 9 per cent. in Germany, 9.3 per cent. in Sweden and 12.3 per cent. in France."
On taxes, the article stated:
"46 per cent. think they are higher in Britain than in other industrial countries . . . Overall, taxes in Britain are 38 per cent. of GDP, compared with an average of 45 per cent. in the EU."
Only in two areas was there a little optimism.
"By more than two to one . . . people believe British television to be the best in the world. Given the choice between identically priced British, German and Japanese goods, 72 per cent. said they would choose the domestic product."
The article, written by David Smith--
"Underneath that inferiority complex, there may just be a sense of national pride waiting to burst out."
Madam Speaker, that is the whole point of my Bill.
"I fly the union flag (a small one) on the apex of my greenhouse--and regularly receive appreciative remarks."
Roger Percival, of the Pheasant hotel in Kelling, Norfolk, writes:
"I urged the British Tourist Authority/English Tourist Board to encourage all members to fly the Union Flag."
Christopher Buswell of Alton in Hampshire says:
"Could not the British be encouraged to erect flagpoles at their homes and fly the Union flag thus instilling a sense of national pride in their country once again?"
Mrs. Woolley, of Cardiff, South Glamorgan, writes:
"I have just returned from a holiday in the West and to see the flags of Canada and America so proudly displayed in almost every garden and on public buildings made me ashamed for the way in which we are fettered by planning restrictions and days for flying the flag."
I could go on--[Interruption.]--and I will, as Opposition Members implore me to. Mr. Edward Johnson, from Falmouth in Cornwall, writes:
"I personally feel that the history of our flag and its presence, should be compulsory at every school in Britain."
We have every right to be proud of the flag. I would also like Government construction projects to fly the British flag, just as European Union projects in the United Kingdom show the European flag.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
At the risk of deselection, I shall disagree with him and say that there is nothing wrong with patriotism, which is devotion to one's country. Nationalism may be different. The Union Flag Bill promotes the Union and the flying of the flag. I hope that all patriots in the Chamber today will support it.
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