Sustainable Livestock Bill

Julian Smith Excerpts

Friday 12th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Nuttall]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. I am sure he will want to expand on it later in the debate.

My concern about the Bill is that it will not achieve what it seeks to do and that, by passing it, all we will have achieved is to put yet another piece of legislation on the statute book imposing a new raft of obligations on the Secretary of State. The effect of those obligations will be that the Secretary of State has no alternative but to increase the number of rules and the amount of regulation imposed on our nation’s farmers.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that farmers throughout Britain, particularly in Skipton and Ripon and north Yorkshire, which I represent, are fed up with the amount of regulation, red tape and bureaucracy that they have had to deal with in recent years, and that the Bill is one further example of that, which they could well do without?

[Mr Nuttall]

In the area that my hon. Friend represents, he has, I suspect, one of the highest densities of farmers of any Member in the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Nuttall]

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I mentioned the European Union, but it was brought up by others and I simply responded to them.

I am concerned about the Bill because it appears to me that in the long term it is likely to result in the decline of meat-eating in this country and it will also affect the dairy products that we consume. I will explain why that is likely to be the inevitable result of the Bill.

The Bill’s whole premise is to impose on the Secretary of State a requirement

“to improve the sustainability of the production, processing, marketing, manufacturing, distribution and consumption of products derived to any substantial extent from livestock”.

The requirement could hardly have been drafted in wider terms, although, to be fair, I am sure that that is exactly what the Bill’s promoter desired.

[Julian Smith]

My hon. Friend may be about to comment on the coalition agreement, which already contains some very strong provisions on sustainability, honesty in food labelling and food procurement. The coalition agreement has some really positive statements about some of the things in the Bill.

[Mr Nuttall]

It does indeed, and I will make mention of them later. I am not sure whether the Bill’s promoter considered those points when drafting the Bill. If so, it raises the question of whether they were taken into account.