Dairy Industry

Chris Evans Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Chris Evans (Islwyn) (Lab/Co-op)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty)on securing this debate, which is important for dairy farmers throughout the country. I join other hon. Members in paying tribute to the former Minister, the right hon. Member for South East Cambridgeshire (Mr Paice), with whom I attended a National Farmers Union rally in a room over the Methodist hall, where angry farmers were shouting and asking him why Tesco was running the country.

On speaking to farmers, it is clear that, more than anything else, they want fairness rather than favours. Dairy farmers are getting a raw deal. It might have been a bit of fun asking at that NFU meeting whether Tesco is running the country, but it is not Tesco or the supermarkets that are the problem; in my view, it is the processors. If dairy farmers were not being squeezed enough—hon. Members have said that they get up at the crack of dawn and go to bed late at night, trying to keep their business running—the three processors, Arla, Wiseman and Dairy Crest, cut the farm-gate milk price, first in April by 2p and then in July by 1.5p and 2p per litre. Hon. Members must ask themselves, how are the farmers carrying on? It is a real problem.

It is important to note that, in the drive to produce milk for the retailer, the processor will squeeze the price and, unfortunately, the producers suffer and are not heard. They are locked into contracts and cannot negotiate out; they have no real voice. I pay tribute to the former Farming Minister’s good idea of introducing the voluntary code. Unfortunately, although some might say that the code has worked, other responses say that that has been done before but has failed time and again. Having heard hon. Members say that the voluntary code will probably fail, we should ask ourselves, when will we introduce a code with real teeth and give the producers a voice? When are we going to introduce legislation? I think that we should do so.

I welcome the new Farming Minister to the Chamber. I am sure that he will enjoy having a real policy to get involved in, rather than trying to manage hon. Members and the business of the House. He is on the record saying that we need legislation. I agree. However, we need an ombudsman—the groceries code adjudicator—and we must give him or her real teeth. We can do that with two things. First, we could fine retailers for unfair practices. If we can do that in the banking world and in respect of energy, why can we not do it in the farming world as well? Secondly, there have been past instances, including the tragic case of Hillsborough, as we heard yesterday, of things being covered up on a mass scale. So there must be an element of whistleblowing, and the NFU and other organisations must be allowed to blow the whistle on practices that they see happening and action must be taken. The Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill must state that processors should be fined for unfair practices; the Select Committee on Business, Innovation and Skills asked for that, so let us push it forward.

The dairy coalition has produced a 10-point plan. The hon. Member for Stone (Mr Cash) said that we should market our milk better, including cheese as well as liquid milk. That starts with the Government: every Department, the House and every council and local authority should focus on selling British milk. If we cannot promote our own products, what hope have we of exporting them at all?

I hope that the Minister gives hope to those dairy farmers who are being squeezed. I have spoken to so many of them. They say that the problem is not just the weather, but production costs. Dairy farms have been in families for generations. It would be terrible for a great British tradition to fall away because of the greed of those in the market.