24. What plans her Department has to reduce the level of regulation on farmers; and if she will make a statement. (3960)

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer that I gave to Question 2.

I welcome those on the Front Bench to their new roles and I thank the Secretary of State for visiting Bromsgrove during the election campaign.

The Minister referred earlier to the review of EU regulations, but may I draw his attention to the fact that they are often not enforced by our major trading partners? While we enforce regulations harshly, many EU countries ignore them, so will the he consider that urgently?

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that very important question. There is a huge amount of concern that some EU countries are less vigorous in enforcing regulations, and it is one of the issues that the taskforce will want to look into. I would just add the caution that when one looks closely at a matter on the ground, it is not always as clear-cut as it appears. If he has a particular case in mind, I will be happy to look into it.