Oral Answers to Questions

Calum Kerr Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[George Eustice]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. One of the key long-term aspects we are looking at is developing a dairy futures market so that farmers can help to mitigate and manage the risks of price volatility. Such a market works quite effectively in the United States, and the European Commission is setting up a high-level group to look at how to develop such a scheme in the European Union.

[Calum Kerr (Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk) (SNP)]

I, too, welcome the new shadow Front-Bench team. The failure of the market to provide a fair price for what farmers produce means that, for many of them, common agricultural policy payments make the difference between bankruptcy and continuing in business. The Secretary of State has been repeatedly asked to confirm whether those payments would continue in the event of a Brexit. Simply batting that question away is no longer acceptable. What will happen?

[George Eustice]

The RPA is making emergency payments worth about £2,500 to help the average Scottish dairy farmer through this difficult period. We are doing our bit to ensure that Scottish dairy farmers are helped.