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Mr. Hayes: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Many hon. Members have not been able to speak in this debate. Given the nature of the crisis in my constituency and elsewhere, would you consider extending the debate beyond 7 pm to allow those hon. Members to speak?
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order. I am bound by the rules of the House and we cannot extend the debate beyond 7 pm.
6.20 pm
Mrs. Ann Winterton (Congleton): First, I warmly congratulate my new neighbour, the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien), on flying over the first hurdle in his parliamentary career with great style by making such a splendid maiden speech.
Since the Government came to power, farm incomes have fallen by three quarters, hill farmers are having to shoot their own sheep, there is no market for calves, and dairy farmers have seen milk prices fall to their lowest level for 11 years. As for British beef farmers, the situation gets worse every day.
The Scots and Welsh are refusing to lift the ban on beef on the bone and, in doing so, are placing enormous pressure on the new devolved machinery. Is it not a little ironic that the lifting of that ban throughout the United Kingdom has been trapped in the devolution doldrums? How can we expect other European nations to accept our beef products, when we in the United Kingdom continue to refuse to allow our own people the freedom to enjoy beef on the bone, against the advice of the chief medical officer.
The Minister should take his courage in both hands, give a lead and take action on behalf of England. As the hon. Member for West Tyrone (Mr. Thompson) said, the others would fall in and follow that lead. The French and Germans are following suit in this nonsense and, in the process, laughing at the European Union which sits idly by as British farming goes deeper into the mire.
Justifiably, British farmers are outraged by the unilateral ban imposed by the French Government on the import of our beef, in direct contravention of the EU ruling to lift the ban in August. What is even more scandalous is that while those countries continue the ban on quality British beef, the European Commission has exposed France and Germany as nations where animal waste and possibly human and veterinary waste have been routinely and illegally used in animal feedstuffs.
Earlier today, my hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Winterton) gave me a note of a UECBV Secretary General's meeting held in Brussels on Tuesday 28 September--a mere month ago--which states:
The UK Government might be wasting time in seeking redress, but the British public are doing their best and doing the job for them by refusing to purchase French produce and standing up for British interests.
Mr. Hayes:
I know that my hon. Friend takes an enlightened and open-minded view of Europe. Perhaps she will comment on what she thinks European Governments would do if British farmers were found to be doing the sort of thing that she has described. Those Governments would use it as a way to stop British imports into their countries.
Mrs. Winterton:
That is a good point. Of course, we all know precisely what they do because we have seen France in action on many occasions. They would take the action that was in their best national interest and twiddle with the rules later. That is the answer, and my hon. Friend, the House and everyone in the country knows it.
Having said that, I commend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on his personal action in not eating and drinking French produce. It is sad that his stance is undermined because he does not have any support from any other Minister, including the Prime Minister, which shows precisely what this Labour Government think of our farmers. The Government have done virtually nothing. Let us flip the coin. To return to the intervention by my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr. Hayes), other Governments would act completely differently.
Our farmers have waited patiently for three and a half years to get top-quality British beef back on the menu across Europe. Having put our house in order and having done more than has been asked of us as a beef-producing nation, why should our beef producers suffer any longer in the face of this thinly veiled attempt by France at protectionism?
By putting off any decision on the illegal ban of British beef exports, the European Commission is colluding with French and German delaying tactics. Ever since the Prime Minister claimed to have lifted the EU ban on British beef, France and Germany have deployed a variety of delaying tactics to ensure that the ban remains in place. The situation displays much of what is wrong in the EU and certainly shows its weakness in dealing with any issue.
In the face of this inaction, we have scenes just across the English channel of a few French farmers blockading the channel tunnel and flagrantly breaching the law by breaking Customs seals on lorries, while the French police look on with inactive complicity--what an absolutely dreadful state of affairs.
The Government have also blocked Milk Marque, our largest dairy co-operative, from investing in processing. My hon. Friend the Member for Macclesfield and I represent a goodly part of Cheshire, where dairy farming is extremely important. Delays in releasing the Monopolies and Mergers Commission report on the future of Milk Marque and the United Kingdom dairy industry have created considerable uncertainty for all involved in milk production and processing.
Hon. Members on both sides agree that the dairy industry is experiencing a crisis. Incomes are lower than they have been for 60 years, with farmgate milk prices
having fallen by nearly a quarter over the past two years. As a child I was told about dairying in the 1930s, when my grandparents were involved in it. I know precisely what the situation was like then. It is shocking that we are repeating that history at the end of this millennium.
The MMC report leaves dairy farmers with key questions unanswered. It based its conclusions on Milk Marque's market share in 1997, which was 49 per cent. of Great Britain's market. Its current market share is 39 per cent. British dairy farmers do not understand why the Government have placed restrictions on Milk Marque based on out-of-date figures in the report, which risk leaving the United Kingdom dairy industry at a disadvantage compared with its competitors overseas.
Dairy farmers' co-operatives have large market shares and are common in other parts of Europe and the world--for example Sweden, Denmark and Holland. They all have vertically integrated co-operatives with more than 50 per cent. of the market. The MMC report says that our consumers pay more for milk than they should as a result of Milk Marque--try telling that to a dairy farming family who have seen the price they receive for milk drop by more than a quarter in the past two years.
All this exacerbates the disastrous common agricultural policy reform negotiations, when Ministers agreed to give four EU countries, including Ireland, extra milk quota next year while mainland Britain's quota is frozen until 2006. What price, then, the cosy relationship between Government and the EU? It simply is not delivering. It means that increased milk imports from Ireland will further undermine British dairy farmers, and although Britain has some of the best dairy producing land in Europe, our farmers are prevented by quota limits from meeting home demand. Ireland, by contrast, already produces more than four times its domestic needs.
Further, the termination of the calf-processing aid scheme in August has resulted in a collapse in the calf market. The Government should introduce a calf disposal scheme, operating to high welfare standards, to put a floor in the market as a short-term relief. The industry itself is actively exploring the development of existing and new markets for calves, and there is a small market for the better beef calf. What could be more devastating than for a farmer to stay up for three quarters of the night to help a cow safely deliver--
Mr. Deputy Speaker:
Order. I call Mr. David Drew.
Mr. David Drew (Stroud):
I shall keep my remarks short as we are approaching the summing up. I wish to make some positive comments in what has generally been a good debate. I start with two quick observations. We could all spend many hours debating the situation in the milk industry. I am pleased to see the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Mr. Tyler) in his place. He has said many times that no one would have started in the present situation because the conflict between Milk Marque and the dairy companies was always unsustainable.
We have heard many theories about how BSE has caused many of the difficulties that we face. My understanding was that the ban on beef on the bone was imposed because the BSE prion was present in the dorsal root ganglia and could be present in the marrow. I hope that there will be good news and that that is confirmed
not to be the case, but it took some time for science to come up with clear answers. It was right to impose the ban rather than take risks. If we believe in the precautionary principle, we should apply it.
I wish to make some positive comments about how we can take the agriculture industry forward. We have to be careful with the words that we choose, but I recognise that one of the factors that has caused so much difficulty for farmers is the loss of consumer confidence matched by excessive supply in all manner of sectors. We cannot by debating restore that confidence, but we could make it worse. I hope that the speeches made tonight have not done so, but I fear that some may have. We have to rebuild that confidence by recognising what consumers are saying. They want more access to local produce, and they certainly want organic produce. That is why the £10 million announcement by the Government is greatly to be welcomed.
Consumers also wish to know that labelling and other ways of genuinely telling what one is eating are as they should be rather than how they have been perceived in the past. On the producer side, farmers are looking for guidance and new directions. The farmers to whom I talk largely welcome the implication that they will have increased environmental responsibilities, but they want to know the detail and the amount of money that will be provided, as I said in the Liberal Democrat Opposition day debate.
We have to be clear. My hon. Friend the Member for Clwyd, West (Mr. Thomas) referred to the importance of the rural development regulations. The amount of money that can be allocated to Britain is far too low and we have to find a way of increasing it. Farmers will judge the effectiveness of schemes not just by how much money goes into them but by the psychology that backs them up, how important people will therefore perceive them to be and what they say about the direction in which the Government want farming to go.
"In discussion it emerged that in Germany all dead animals were collected and rendered under local authority supervision, but rendered material, including pets faeces and gut content went into animal feed. This was causing concern and conflict among meat processors and the medical profession, not least because dead animals might contain medicines or poisons used in lethal injections."
That makes disgusting reading.
6.30 pm
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