asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whom he has appointed to the membership of the Yorkshire Regional Land Drainage Committee.

My right hon. Friend has appointed Major A. T. Bourne-Arton (Chairman), Mr. J. C. Cooke, Mr. J. P. Coverdale and Mr. A. L. West.

Is it not the case that the chairman of the committee is a former Conservative Member of this House, and Mr. Cooke is a Conservative member of the North Yorkshire County Council, while neither of the other two gentlemen mentioned has any connection with the Labour Party? Is it not clear that the Minister is using these appointments for party political purposes?

No, indeed that is not so. The appointees have qualifications that are especially applicable. I was about to assure the hon. Gentleman that Mr. West is Chairman of the Cottingham IDB, Mr. Cooke is the Vice-Chairman of the Went IDB and Mr. Coverdale, in addition to being Chairman of the River Foss IDB, is also an active member of the Association of Drainage Authorities.

Will my hon. Friend say whether our membership of the EEC will in any way affect the future appointment of members to drainage committees? Is there likely to be a co-ordinated EEC policy on the question of drainage rights?

My answer to the first part of my hon. Friend's questions is "No". To that second, it should be understood that drainage forms part of the schemes within the Community.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the percentage increase in food prices since June 1970.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what has been the percentage increase in food prices since June 1970.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food by how much the cost of food has risen since 18th June 1970.

Between 16th June 1970 and 13th November 1973, the latest date for which information is available, the food index rose by 46·2 per cent.

Is the Minister aware that the latest increased figures are of an order of 50 per cent.? The reason why the right hon. Gentleman will not announce the percentage increase to the House today is that he is frightened to do so. He is waiting for the House to rise before the announcement is made. The right hon. Gentleman cannot blame this sort of price increase on the miners. He should tell his right hon. Friends that when we hear, this winter, about pensioners starving, we should have no more of this talk, as on the last occasion of the miners' industrial action, that pensioners are starving because of lack of heat. They are starving because they cannot buy enough food.

Seldom have I heard a greater distortion of the facts. Certainly the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) would never frighten me away from this House, nor would any of his hon. Friends. I find that his analysis of the situation is not borne out by the papers today. I was rather interested in the quotation from today's Daily Mirror, which the hon. Member may have seen. It says:

"The survey … certainly does not give a picture of housewives struggling to make ends meet by buying cheaper foods."

Is my right hon. Friend familiar with the blatantly misleading and factually incorrect leaflet which has been distributed by the Greater London Co-operative Society? Will he refute, in particular, three of the incorrect statements in that leaflet? The first is that food prices have risen due to profits made by manufacturers; the second, that the Government have imposed taxes on food; and the third, that the Government have withdrawn subsidies. Is my right hon. Friend aware that a widespread survey carried out by Which? shows that the Co-op was neither cheaper nor offered better value in quality than any other store?

I have seen the leaflet to which my hon. Friends refers. It is true that it is a completely inaccurate document in all the respects to which she refers. It is an utter distortion of the truth, and I am glad to have this opportunity of saying so.

Is not the Minister aware that even the figures he has announced today will pale into insignificance as the new figures are announced in the coming months as a result of Government policy? Is he further aware that while he and his colleagues prance around this country blaming everyone for our problems rather than admit their own incompetence prices go up? Will he tell the House when, at long last, the Government will take action against prices, either by giving teeth to the Price Commission or by introducing subsidies on key foods?

Again, this is completely inaccurate, and the hon. Member knows it. The facts are, as I have stated in the House many times, that the rises are due to world conditions, which cannot be denied. Those are the facts which I have given many times. I have said again and again that world food prices have risen. In the last three and half years since this Government took office, world food prices have risen by 77 per cent. During the six years that the Labour Party were in office world food prices rose by 6 per cent., but the price of food rose a great deal more than that.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the country as a whole is spending only 19 per cent. of its income on food? Is he further aware that this is the lowest figure we have ever spent, and lower than in any other country in Europe?

It is true that the percentage of income which the average earner and the pensioner as well spends on food as a proportion of income has been going down steadily the whole time and that it is now at a lower figure than at any time previously. This means that the purchasing power, in terms of food, is substantially better, even in the present situation, than it was when the Labour Government left office.

In spite of what has been said on the subjects of price controls and food subsidies, is not the right hon. Gentleman aware that these measures could have brought industrial peace this winter? Would that not have been a very small price for the Government to pay in the end?

I sympathise with the hon. Gentleman's view and I wish I could agree with it, but I cannot. The cost of any attempt to have held prices of food would have been so vast that it would have meant enormous increases in taxation. Indeed, over the last year food prices have gone up by an extent that would have meant another £1,500 million in taxes to equate that rise. If the hon. Gentleman suggests that this would have held the situation and been more than a mere palliative, he is deceiving himself. The Government, under phase 3, provided for threshold arrangements which will be triggered off as and when the retail price index rises above 7 per cent. That should give considerable help to the workers concerned.

Wheat is a key commodity in world prices. As we have been told repeatedly throughout this year that the world price for wheat is much higher than the EEC's price, why is it that right up until August this year the Community had to impose a levy upon imported wheat? Even in March the levy was over £20 a ton.

My hon. Friend is aware that while the world price is below the Community price the levies operate, but immediately the world price reaches the Community price the levies cease to operate. This is the function which operates within the Community and my hon. Friend is well aware of it. At present, no levies are operating because the world price is above the Community price.

The right hon. Gentleman earlier called the Daily Mirror's report on the national food survey to his defence. Will he read the rest of the report, which shows that we are eating less beef, lamb and pork than during rationing?

We have discussed this matter many times. Perhaps I can explain it to the hon. Gentleman once more. The national food survey does not give the total consumption of meat. It gives the figures of food moving into consumption, which is the total figure. It may be of interest to the hon. Gentleman to know the figures compared with those of the rationing period. The total consumption of meat at present is 26·88 oz per head per week, compared with 19·37 oz under rationing. That is the true comparison. Whilst it is true that this year, particularly in the first half, meat consumption went down because of shortage of supplies, of which we all knew, it has risen again now, and there are good supplies in the shops.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what elements of cost increases will occur on corned beef, tinned fish and tinned fruit imported from Commonwealth countries as a result of new EEC tariff arrangements coming into force on 1st January 1974.

Adjustments to the tariff on corned beef are made at the beginning of the beef marketing year in April. Supplies of canned fish and canned fruit from the non-associable Commonwealth will face the first step towards the CCT on 1st January. Supplies from the developing Commonwealth which have been offered association will continue duty free. Tariff changes are not necessarily reflected in retail prices; however, it is estimated that all the tariff changes due to take place on 1st January 1974 will result in an increase of only between ¼ per cent. and ½ per cent. on the retail food price index next year.

Will the hon. Lady explain why she reverts to a percentage figure? Is she not aware that the Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry quoted the figure last Monday as being between £20 million and £40 million? Does the hon. Lady not agree that that is the effective increase in prices for next year, which has nothing to do with world prices but is a tax on food coming into the country, the results of which will not even stay here for expenditure but will go direct to Brussels?

But the results of which were estimated to be 2 per cent. per annum during the transitional period by both the Labour Government and the present Government in their negotiations to join the EEC.

Will my hon. Friend, for the education of all of us, publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT exactly how she arrived at the figure she gave, so that we can check it and compare it with the figures that other people have got? Secondly, on the question of food prices generally, is it not true that the subsidy on sugar was removed this year and that from 1st January we could have quite a lot of taxes on foods? I hope that the Government will publish particulars of these taxes on food.

The answer to my hon. Friend's second question is, "Yes". The sugar subsidy was introduced last spring. It was going to be removed at the end of December last year, but because we were in the period of freeze in the first stage of the counter-inflation measures it was eventually phased out.

Does the hon. Lady not think it rather ironic that this Government have become party to a treaty that will increase food prices by between £20 million and £40 million in the year beginning 1st January when, at the same time, millions of workers are going to have their wages substantially reduced because of part-time work? Could not the Minister have repeated, in relation to these levies, what he said last week about putting butter into ice-cream—that he would be ashamed to go back to Britain if ever anyone said that that must be part of the policy of the EEC? Does the hon. Lady not think that the right hon. Gentleman might have used the veto, having regard to the difficult circumstances that we are facing on the industrial front?

No, Sir. Of course, when they negotiated to join the EEC the Government did not know that there was going to be a fuel and energy crisis, partly outside our control and partly nationally inflicted. At the United Kingdom's request, the EEC has agreed to examine the CCT on foodstuffs for items where the tariffs might be cut or suspended in order to help counter-inflation.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will establish a separate food price index to cover the Christmas period.

No, Sir.

Why not?

Because the food index measured prices on 11th December and will do so again on 15th January, and this covers the whole of the Christmas period.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what have been the increases in the prices of bacon and of eggs since June 1970 to the latest available date.

As the answer contains a number of figures I shall, with permission, circulate the information in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Is the Minister aware that when I was a child my Christmas treat consisted of oranges and nuts, but that this Christmas, due to the massive increase in prices, bacon and eggs will now become the standard Christmas treat for many children because their parents will not be able to afford to give bacon and eggs to them on any other morning in the year?

With respect to the hon. Gentleman, and sharing with him a fairly spartan childhood, I have to say that what he has said is absolute rubbish. Bacon has risen in price between 21p and 29p per pound, and eggs have risen in price by 22p to 24p per dozen. [Interruption.] As my right hon. Friend has pointed out, rises in both wages and pensions have exceeded the rise in the cost of living. So it is nonsense for the hon. Gentleman to suggest that the British meal of bacon and eggs is a luxury.

As the Minister persistently seeks to mislead the House by pretending that the Government are not responsible for a large part of the rise in food prices in recent months, will the hon. Lady say whether her right hon. Friend voted on Monday night in favour of the Government's order introducing a number of new food taxes?

Yes, Sir, on the Import Duties (General) (No. 8) Order.

Is not it time that the Opposition showed some responsibility towards our farmers, who provide our food, and realised the increased costs with which farmers are faced? Is it not time that the British public realised the value that they are getting from the British farmer?

The throughput in egg packing stations throughout the United Kingdom is down by 13 per cent. on last year. That is because low egg prices in 1972 did not cover producers' costs, and caused a cut-back in production. Cutting back production is no way of ensuring good value for money.

Will the hon. Lady tell the House, first, whether this constitutes a doubling of the price of eggs? Secondly, will she say why her right hon. Friend constantly quotes earnings and not wage rates, which are the relevant rates in this respect? There is a distinction between earnings and wage rates. Thirdly, in the light of what she has just been saying, will she say whether she is giving any consideration to something for which the farmers of Britain constantly ask, namely, a pegging—indeed, a subsidisation—of the cost of foodstuffs to them?

On the first question, yes; it represents what the hon. Lady has said. Bearing in mind the explosion in the cost of animal foodstuffs, not even counting other costs, it is hardly to be wondered at. Earnings and wage rates are both relevant, but earnings are important, too, and I appreciate the hon. Lady's point on that matter.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will remove all import duties or levies on food imported into the United Kingdom as long as retail food prices are above the levels of June 1970.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will now discontinue all import levies or duties on food imported into the United Kingdom.

No, Sir.

As the removal of these taxes, which are the main cause of high food prices, would do a great deal to ease both the economic and the industrial situation in this country, may I ask why the right hon. Gentleman will not remove them?

It is a pity that the right hon. Gentleman should persist in distorting the truth of the matter. He is wrong to try to mislead people in the way that he does. The total impact, with the increases on 1st January, amounts to less than 1 per cent. of consumers' expenditure on food. That is the true position.

Does my right hon. Friend agree that one reason for lower food production, particularly of dairy produce, is the disgraceful way that dairy farmers in my constituency were treated by the Labour Government? Will he bear this in mind in the review that he is undertaking at present?

I agree that the Labour Government treated all farmers disgracefully. I should not differentiate between dairy and other farmers. Since we came back into office we have been able to restore production, and the upward growth of production at home is materially assisting us at this time.

Is the Minister aware that the Tory Government have added to the staggeringly high price increases of food since 1970 by 50p in the pound by passing the Import Duties (General) (No. 8) Order? Is he aware that this will make the bacon-and-egg breakfast and midday meal for many of our people recede further and unhappily into the mists of memory? Is he also aware that his refusal to discontinue all import levies or duties on food means that the British housewife will not believe him when he talks about prices? Lastly, will he dredge up whatever vestiges of honesty remain in him and tell the British people the truth about prices and stop wriggling and twisting and showing his incompetence when Britain labours under a staggeringly high food price burden?

I have never wriggled or twisted, and I have always told the truth in this House. I have already given the figures for which we were asked regarding the actual increase in food prices. I shall now give the increase in earnings and pensions, which I think are strictly relevant. Against a food price increase of 46·2 per cent., there was an earnings increase of 48·7 per cent. and a pensions increase of 55 per cent. The true comparison is between the earnings index of 48·7 per cent. and the real cost of living as a whole, which is in fact only 33·5 per cent. That is the true situation. If what the hon. Gentleman says about housewives having such a difficult time is true, I must point out that they were having a much more difficult time when the Labour Government were in office. These figures prove it.

We have had the first instalment this year of harmonisation towards the CAP, on 1st January we are to have the first taxes on a lot of Commonwealth imported food, and in April, if not earlier, we shall have the second instalment of our harmonisation towards the CAP. Will the right hon. Gentleman tell the House whether he sought to postpone the increases which are to come into effect on 1st January under the CET and whether he resisted any proposal to introduce the system of levies as well as taxes on imported lamb?

The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the degrees with which these measures have been introduced. Last month I put a proposal before the Council of Ministers suggesting that in the circumstances facing the whole Community it would be sensible to make some reduction in the Common External Tariff on food and on other items. This was not agreed, although there was agreement to consider whether something along those lines could be done.

What about the levies on lamb?

I have included those in my global reply. I did not ask for changes, because these represented one of the factors relating to the acclimatisation of our system with the Community which had been agreed. Therefore, I did not think it was right to ask for any changes. I think that it will have very little impact on the cost of food.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will now remove all import duties or levies on butter and cheese imported into the United Kingdom from New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether, in pursuance of the counter-inflationary policy, he will now remove the import levies now charged on butter and cheese from outside the EEC.

I would refer the hon. Members to the reply I gave on 22nd November to the right hon. Member for Battersea, North (Mr. Jay) and the hon. Member for Feltham (Mr. Russell Kerr).—[Vol. 864, Col. 464.]

Will the hon. Gentleman explain the contradiction between the claim of his right hon. Friend that all food price increases are due to increases in world prices and the fact that the Government are bent on imposing taxes on imported food from the Commonwealth which increase the price? Who is right—the Minister or his right hon Friend? Or are they both wrong?

I would point out to the hon. Gentleman that despite the levy butter is 7p a pound cheaper than it was early in 1972, and the price of cheese has remained almost constant, again despite the levies.

Is the Minister aware that there are miners in my constituency who find it difficult to comprehend a situation where they are being denied a just wage on the ground that it would be inflationary, while the Government deliberately put up the price of food by imposing taxes? Will the Government now stop lecturing the miners and put their own house in order?

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will explain to me how he can say that we have put up the price of food when, as I have said, butter has come down in price and cheese has remained level.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on his examination of the State Veterinary Service.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he is now able to make a statement on the action he is proposing to improve conditions of employment in the State Veterinary Service so as to encourage recruiting.

I am anxious to increase officers in my Department. Following a recent study by officials, various proposals are being considered in consultation with the staff association concerned and the Civil Service Department. These relate to the structure and management of the veterinary service, the nature of the duties undertaken by veterinary officers, and the opportunities for advancement in the service. I hope that as a result it will be possible to adopt measures that will make the veterinary service more attractive as a career.

May I impress upon my right hon. Friend the urgency of this matter, especially in view of the British Veterinary Association's assertion that if there were a serious outbreak of disease, such as foot-and-mouth, the service would break down?

I share my hon. Friend's concern about the position in the veterinary service. I want to see it resolved as soon as possible. I have had a number of discussions with those concerned. I hope that the joint working party that is considering the matter will come up with some helpful proposals. The veterinary service is part of the State Scientific Service and has to be considered in this wider context.

The Minister did not give what I should regard as a very satisfactory reply to his hon. Friend. Is he relying entirely on the joint working party? Has he no ideas of his own on how to improve the service?

I tried to explain the position as it is. There is a problem here. Relativities within the Civil Service are important, as the hon. Gentleman knows. I want to find a system which will attract more people into the State Veterinary Service, to which I should like to pay tribute. Although the service is below strength, when we had the difficult outbreak of swine vesicular disease, those concerned put in a great deal of overtime and did a lot to help to overcome the problem. I believe they would do so again should the need arise.

I am sure that my right hon. Friend will be aware of the concern felt by farmers about this matter. Will he take note that what is causing grave concern to farmers and vets is the relatively high age range of the existing members of the State Veterinary Service? Will he therefore give special consideration to the need to increase the responsibilities of junior members of the veterinary service as an incentive to encourage more young vets to come into it?

That is an extremely valid point, and I agree with my hon. Friend. We are looking into that matter.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in view of the spread of Dutch elm disease, what steps he is now taking under the Plant Health Act 1967 to restrict the movement of diseased logs from the south of England to the north.

My right hon. Friend is considering urgently whether powers should be sought under the Plant Health Act 1967 to control the movement of diseased logs from one area to another. I cannot at this stage add anything to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hands-worth (Mr. Sydney Chapman) on 22nd November.—[Vol. 864, c. 1536–7.]

Is the Minister aware that that is why many of us are complaining about this matter? What has been done in the last month for the Minister to make up his mind? What hopes does he have of preventing the spread of this disease if this delay continues?

We are trying to see whether a worthwhile scheme can be worked out whereby the spraying of logs with insecticide before they are moved can be policed or monitored. It is not an easy thing to do.

Is my hon. Friend aware that this disease has become so prevalent in the South-West that it is quite impossible to identify and to fell all the diseased trees? Will he consider further measures to try to bring this about?

I do not think that I can go back on the statement that I made to the House. We must, sadly and regrettably, admit that we lost the battle on Dutch elm disease.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the Forestry Commission's contribution to the "Plant a Tree in '73" campaign, with particular reference to supplies of trees the commission has made available to tree nurseries and the public.

The Forestry Commission has undertaken a number of special amenity planting projects throughout the country, many of them in co-operation with local authorities. The commission has also donated substantial numbers of plants to schools, and wherever possible it has complied with requests to buy plants from its surplus stocks.

I am grateful for that reply. As the "Plant a Tree in 1973" campaign has been a very great success, will my hon. Friend realise that it must now be a continuing process and that we must plant some more in '74? Will he give an assurance that the Forestry Commission will make even more supplies available for the public to plant?

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the inspiration that he has given to the tree planting campaign. I can tell him that 90,000 trees have been donated to schools and about 70,000 trees for projects carried out in conjunction with local authorities. I shall certainly draw the attention of the Forestry Commission to what my hon. Friend has said, and I shall do anything I can to support his wishes.

Is the Minister aware that the Department of the Environment sent to every hon. Member, in a large envelope, a circular about planting a tree, and that this constitutes a great waste of public money? The Minister ought to encourage his fellow Ministers to see that public money is saved as well as trees.

Perhaps the fault lies in the fact that that material is a product of wood pulp.

Would not the best contribution that my hon. Friend could make to the English countryside be to keep alive in '75 and beyond our English elm trees? Will he think again about the capitulation which he has recently announced?

It was not a recent announcement; it was something which had to be faced, because there is no known treatment for Dutch elm disease other than the individual injection of trees, and even that is by no means really established as a cure. It is not a method which is practicable for all the trees in the country.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will seek powers to control the quality of the lower-priced wines sold in Great Britain.

No. Existing and projected legislation at national and Community level should provide the consumer with adequate safeguards on the composition and labelling of wine. It is not my function to intervene further by limiting the range of qualities available to consumers.

Has the hon. Lady's attention been drawn to a report of a comprehensive nature recently published in the Sunday Times, which indicated that a substantial proportion of wines sold to the British public are of unduly poor quality, undrinkable, or fraudulently labelled? Will the hon. Lady use her influence on the wine trade to persuade it to put its affairs in better order?

Like the hon. Gentleman, I read that criticism in the Sunday Times colour supplement with great interest. But that criticism no doubt reflects to some degree the preferences of the individuals who wrote the article. Provided that certain minimum compositional and hygiene requirements are met, and provided that wine is correctly labelled—

It is not correctly labelled. Get it right.

Under the Food and Drugs Act wine has to be correctly labelled. The draft Community regulation on the description and presentation of wine is likely to be finalised in the fairly near future, and the proposal in that regulation, which spells out fairly stringent labelling requirements for wine, has been generally welcomed by consumer organisations in the United Kingdom.

When shall we be debating that draft regulation?

The draft regulation is not yet ready.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on discussions in the EEC Council about reform of the CAP.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on progress towards reforming the common agricultural policy.

We had a general preliminary discussion of the Commission's report in the Council of Ministers on 19th and 20th November. This was followed by a fuller exchange of views about the Commission's proposals for individual commodities in the meeting on 10th and 11th December.

Will the reform proposals make any difference to the present high level of food prices in this country and to the food taxes which are now imposed on food imports?

It is too early to say what will eventuate from these discussions, which will be long and detailed and will be involved also with discussions about prices within the Community for the forthcoming 12 months. These are the matters which we shall be discussing in the next two or three months. I could not speculate on the outcome, but in my interventions on these two occasions I have made clear the United Kingdom's opposition to one or two factors which we think are wrong in the Commission's proposals.

Will my right hon. Friend say what is the definitive date by which we have to reach a decision on the question of sugar? Also, may I say that when he gets down to discussing the question of sugar I hope he will bear in mind that, although the undertaking is to import 1·4 million tons from the Commonwealth sugar-producing countries, that will not be regarded as satisfactory on the Government side of the House unless exports from the Common Market are restricted in the light of world conditions?

The definitive date when decisions on sugar will have to be taken is February 1975, not February 1974, and I do not expect that we shall get down to serious discussion of the major issues on sugar for some months yet. There will be consideration of the 1974 Community price level of sugar, and that will have to be dealt with in the general price consideration for 1974. But the matters to which my hon. Friend has rightly drawn attention are the ones which will be decided before February 1975, and in relation to those I made the Government's position quite clear in the detailed debate on this subject a short time ago. I do not think that I can usefully add to what I said then.

Are we to understand from what the Minister has said that not only in these preliminary exchanges have the Government not put forward proposals for removing the CAP from a number of commodities, like sugar and rice, which it at present covers, but, worse still, that it is now actually being proposed that the CAP should be extended to mutton and lamb, so that they would be subject not merely to the food taxes of 1st January, which are duties and tariffs, but to the levies of the CAP?

It is perfectly true that I did not oppose the existing Community régime. As regards sheepmeat, I have said that the United Kingdom would be prepared to consider a sheepmeat regulation if it were prepared in a form which would meet the requirements of the United Kingdom, both as a major producer, being the largest producer of sheepmeat in the Community, and also as a major importer, being also the largest importer of sheepmeat in the Community. If we are to have a sheepmeat regulation, I attach great importance to having one which suits our requirements. I said that I would not be prepared to agree to one unless and until it did that. But if we get one which suits our requirements, I see no reason to resist.

asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the future of the hill cow, hill sheep, and winter keep subsidy schemes.

As my right hon. Friend said in his statement to the House on 22nd November, the general effect of the decisions recently reached in Brussels is to confirm our ability to continue paying these subsidies on broadly the same lines as at present.

I am sure the whole farming industry will be very glad to hear that announcement, but is my hon. Friend aware that there is uncertainty about the winter keep scheme, and that in view of the escalation of feeding stuff costs it is very important for farmers in hill and marginal lands to have long-term assurances on this subject?

I can only repeat that we have reached a position where we feel able to continue paying the subsidies broadly as they are at the moment. Although the winter keep scheme in England differs from that which operates in Scotland, as my right hon. Friend will know, I have no reason to suppose that either scheme will run into difficulties.

Will there be any gap between the two schemes, as there was between the two horticultural schemes?

I can give the hon. Gentleman an assurance that existing support will continue until the new directive comes into force.

Does my hon. Friend agree that decisions of this kind are made in Brussels by a Council of Ministers consisting of eight Ministers of Agriculture and my right hon. Friend, who is the only one who is also a Minister of Food? Will he therefore accept that a very heavy responsibility falls on my right hon. Friend in protecting the interests of the consumer in these matters?

I think that my right hon. Friend has discharged those responsibilities admirably.