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Dr. Cunningham: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making the simple point that the Conservative party has been noticeably silent on the need for a public inquiry into all the issues.

Mr. William Thompson (West Tyrone): Does the right hon. Gentleman realise that he is taking fear of beef infection to an extreme? The test was carried out under extreme conditions and, despite those conditions, no animal under 30 months showed any infection. Surely that was a positive result, which confirms the existing policy. Instead of putting more pressure on our farmers, the Minister should have taken the first option suggested by SEAC--

"to make public the research findings"--

and allowed the public to make up their own mind.

Dr. Cunningham: The hon. Gentleman suggests that I should deliberately and constructively allow infective BSE material into the human food chain. I simply am not prepared to do that.

Ms Rosie Winterton (Doncaster, Central): Is my right hon. Friend aware that one of my constituents, Matthew Parker, died earlier this year of new-variant CJD and that his family have called for a public inquiry? One of their major concerns is that information about BSE should be made public, as my right hon. Friend has done today, and not concealed, as some Conservative Members seem to wish.

Dr. Cunningham: I express my sympathy and condolences to my hon. Friend's constituents. I was

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pleased to note that a spokesperson for the CJD support group welcomed the prompt and clear action that I have taken in the matter.

Mr. Tony Baldry (Banbury): The Minister said that he would consult. Given that the experiment involved heavy doses of heavily infected BSE material being fed to cattle and that, even in those circumstances, only cattle over 30 months were found to have very low infectivity, will he consider the suggestion made by my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg), that the Minister should excuse from the scheme cattle born after 1 August this year? One has to make some distinction. Will the Minister promise the House that he will consult with an open mind, because his proposals will have a devastating effect on the beef industry and the high end of the butchering market, which has done so much to help to restore confidence in beef in recent months?

Dr. Cunningham: I shall consult urgently on those issues, and I expect to lay orders quickly after that consultation period.

To return to the point made by the right hon. and learned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg), I explained in some detail why I could not do what he suggested: it would be confusing and difficult to administer and control. The simplest and most effective response to the problem is to ensure that all beef is sold off the bone. Customers and consumers will understand that clearly, and it will avoid unnecessary complications and different processes for butchers.

I trust the butchers, and I acknowledge what the hon. Member for Banbury (Mr. Baldry) said: they have worked hard and done a great deal to help to restore confidence in British beef. I am sure that they can continue to do so, even though I acknowledge that there has been something of a setback.

Dr. Tony Wright (Cannock Chase): I thank my right hon. Friend for the speed and candour of his statement. If SEAC routinely made available its proceedings, would not that remove the need for the regular leaks and urgent statements?

I want to take up the point that has been made by all parties save one, about the need for a public inquiry. Is not it extraordinary that this catastrophe for public health, the beef industry and the public purse, which may have been compounded by incompetence, has not yet been the subject of a proper full public inquiry? Would not that do more than anything else to begin the process of restoring public confidence? If my right hon. Friend cannot give us the details, will he at least tell us in principle that he wants an inquiry and that it is not being blocked by producer interests?

Dr. Cunningham: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his opening remarks and his support for the promptness and candour with which I have acted. SEAC concluded its deliberations only very late last night. It would normally be encouraged by me to give a brief statement of its conclusions, but it did not have time even to do that in this case. I regret and greatly deplore the fact that its advice to me was leaked.

I am delighted to have the support of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health in the Chamber today, and I share his view that there are strong arguments

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for a public inquiry into all aspects of these matters, but I assure my hon. Friend that no one among the producers has sought to exercise any influence on me as I present the arguments and continue the discussions, as I must do, with Government colleagues about the decision, which is not yet made. As soon as we reach a conclusion, I shall want to make a statement.

Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy): The right hon. Gentleman began his statement by saying that food safety was a priority. I do not think that anybody would argue with that, but what priority is given to the livelihood of thousands of farmers? He has said candidly that he does not propose to take any steps to recompense the beef industry, which is in the absolute pits. How can he, as the Minister responsible, sit and watch the whole agricultural industry dissipate before our very eyes?

Dr. Cunningham: To suggest that the whole of British agriculture is disintegrating is somewhat over thetop, even for the hon. Gentleman. [Hon. Members: "Livestock."] He did not say that; he said the whole agricultural industry.

As for what the hon. Gentleman says that I said, let me repeat what I in fact said: I cannot promise the House that there will be compensation.

Mr. Alan W. Williams (East Carmarthen and Dinefwr): I congratulate my right hon. Friend on coming to the House immediately on receiving SEAC's advice. The consumer will want to know why the information was not available five or 10 years ago. Why was research on infectivity not carried out by the previous Government?

I add my voice to calls from all parties, except the Conservatives, for a wide-ranging public inquiry. I should like it to be on the pattern of the Scott inquiry, taking detailed evidence from witnesses in public, with cross- examination and expert analysis, so that we can find out what mistakes were made and who was responsible. Should not the previous Government have done far more five or 10 years ago to stop the disaster that now engulfs the beef industry?

Dr. Cunningham: The papers and decisions of the previous Administration are not available to me and my colleagues.

Mr. Williams: Why not?

Dr. Cunningham: Because that is the way in which British government operates. If my hon. Friend is dissatisfied with that, I share his view; but that is how things are, and I cannot change it just for the moment.

As any sensible Administration would, we have carried on--I want to be fair to the previous Administration--developed and expanded the scientific work on BSE that was set in train. As time has passed and the research has become more and more sensitive, new results have emerged. I have reported to the House on the latest of those results today, and I have announced the action that I believe to be necessary and about which I am urgently consulting.

My hon. Friend joined many other right hon. and hon. Members in pressing for a public inquiry. He will have heard what I said earlier on that subject.

Mr. Robert Walter (North Dorset): The most important message that should go out from our

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deliberations this afternoon is that British beef is the safest in Europe. The Minister said that SEAC's experimental evidence was that the traces had shown up only in cattle over 30 months old and only in material that would not normally be consumed. Will he therefore reaffirm, for the benefit of the consumer, that no British beef that has been eaten in this country in the past 18 months contained any material that could lead to any risk of any sort of transmission of disease?

I accept that Mr. Fischler and Mrs. Bonino are not taking calls today, but is there in any way in which the Minister's actions today can bring forward, in the current negotiations, the date of the lifting of the export ban?

Dr. Cunningham: At least I can congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his first statement, that the most important message to send out today is that we are taking all the necessary action to ensure that British beef is as safe as any in Europe, and safer than most. I share that conclusion, but I cannot agree with the rest of what he had to say.

The reality is that, as we know, there is a long incubation period for the disease, so we cannot be certain that no beef containing BSE infection has been sold to consumers in the past 18 months; I cannot give that guarantee, because that guarantee cannot exist in the circumstances that have prevailed.

The hon. Gentleman made flippant remarks about Commissioners Fischler and Bonino. I wonder whether Conservative Members have learnt any lessons at all about our relations with our colleagues in the European Union. The fact, I understand, is that Mrs. Bonino is in Canada, and although we tried to track her down, it proved impossible. However, her office is well aware of what is happening, as is that of Mr. Fischler, to whom I talk regularly. I have cordial and constructive relations with them both, and I intend to maintain them, unlike the previous Government, because that is in the best interests of the United Kingdom.

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