Dairy Industry

Ian Paisley Excerpts

Wednesday 5th November 2014 Westminster Hall

[Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart) on securing the debate. The current Parliament has been one of the most supportive of rural debates. More than many previous Parliaments, it has heard the voice of the primary producer, and it should be commended for that.

Many hon. Members have described how important the milk producing sector is to the economy. My constituency has one of the largest bottling plants, and United Dairy Farmers, one of the most successful farming co-ops, operates there producing yogurt, drinks, butter and other milk-based items. It is the backbone of the local economy and jobs, and it is important to support it. However, we must bear in mind in the debate the world pressures on milk produce—over-production of milk worldwide, and the closure of the Russian market to EU-produced milk. Also, Chinese imports are now half what they were two or three years ago. My constituency helped to provide some of the biggest quantities of whey to China. The market needs to be encouraged and expanded, but there is pressure on it. I should certainly appreciate it if the Government could do more about that.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

One of the key issues seems to be the world market and the competition problems that we face. Many farmers tell me that they are concerned about the end of quotas leading to other countries taking losses to the market and expanding hugely into countries such as Portugal, and completely under-mining the market. Does he agree that that is one of the major concerns, if we are to tackle long-term prices?

[Ian Paisley]

There are a number of fundamental things that need to be tackled. I am going to say something that will probably be quite unpopular, but it is a fact: the consumer must be educated to understand that if they want to eat clean, green, traceable local produce, they will have to pay more for it. All sectors of the industry must support that message, educating children, housewives and consumers about the fact that if they want to fill their basket with local produce it will cost more. We should get away from the notion that we can have cheap mass quantities of foodstuffs; we can have cheap mass quantities of food-like stuffs—but not of food. We must be clear about it, but it is difficult to sell that message to the public, especially in times of austerity. However, we need to address it.

Northern Ireland is more reliant on exports than the rest of the UK, so the effect that the milk sector feels is of course much greater. Cheap imports are pressed on us by our neighbour, the Republic of Ireland, which aggressively sells its milk in Northern Ireland but also aggressively opposes the sale of ours in the Republic. The Government should give that strong scrutiny.

I want to leave two matters with the Government for consideration. UKRep should be encouraged to press in the EU for an increased level of intervention to take surplus off the market. If that were done it would be of considerable help to world prices and local UK prices. The Government must help companies to find new markets. That is easy to say and difficult to achieve, but significant action must be taken, and, as the Chairman of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Miss McIntosh), said, pressure must be put on people to buy red tractor-marked goods and local goods. That means aggressive Government encouragement of the sale of those goods; and they can take it right to the line. Many European Community countries break the rules when they sell their local products. I want our Government to bend that line and be as proactive as they can in ensuring that British products are sold to as many British people as possible. The Government could also encourage DairyCo, a statutory body paid for by a farmers’ levy, to do its job, if they gave it more support.