Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Mel Stride and Angela Smith

Tuesday 3rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

5. What assessment his Department has made of the fiscal effect on the agricultural sector of the UK leaving the EU customs union and single market.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mel Stride)]

We are of course in the process of our negotiations with the European Union, and until they are concluded it will not be possible precisely to assess the impact on our agricultural sector, other than to assure the hon. Lady that agriculture has a very high priority for this Government. That is why we have pledged the same cash total in funds for farming as under the EU until the end of this Parliament.

[Angela Smith]

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has calculated that Brexit will deliver significant damage to the economy and to Government receipts. In that context, will the Minister guarantee that farmers will not suffer a reduction in the level of support they currently receive in the post common agricultural policy period?

[Mel Stride]

As the hon. Lady will know, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is consulting currently and looking at the results of the recent consultation on how we should fund farming. Public money for public goods is at the centre of that approach. I reiterate that we have pledged the same cash total in funds for farming as under the EU for the rest of this Parliament.

Badger Cull

Debate between Mel Stride and Angela Smith

Wednesday 11th December 2013 Westminster Hall

[Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Weir. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson) on securing the debate.

There is agreement in the Chamber that bovine TB is a major issue, especially for farmers. I acknowledge that TB in badgers is part of the problem, and no one has ever denied that it is—it is the Government’s response to that problem that is in dispute.

As we all know, the previous Government spent a significant sum on scientific research, and the overall conclusion from the randomised badger culling trials was that the culling of badgers could have no meaningful impact on the incidence of bovine TB. The pilot culls recently completed were not, therefore, supported by scientific evidence.

[Mel Stride]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Angela Smith]

I will give way just once, because of the time limits and because other Members want to speak.

[Mel Stride]

I thank the hon. Lady for generously giving way. On the point about scientific evidence, the debate is, in a sense, slightly premature, because we await the outcome of the independent expert panel report, which will assess whether the culls were safe, humane and effective. In the event that the panel concludes that they met all three of those tests, will the hon. Lady accept, as I do, that the culls should proceed?

[Angela Smith]

The scientific evidence I was referring to was the 10-year, £50-million project, which is the fundamental basis for any science relating to the cull.

The pilot culls recently completed were not supported by scientific evidence. The justification for them was that they were to

“test the assumption that controlled shooting is an effective method of badger removal, in terms of being able to remove at least 70% of the starting population in the area, over the course of a six week cull.”—[Official Report, 15 April 2013; Vol. 561, c. 70W.]

Thus, the pilots were designed to test not the science, but whether controlled shooting could achieve the crucial target of removing 70% of the badger population in the cull zone, that figure being key to achieving even a modest reduction in bovine TB.

Therefore, my first question to the Minister is, what percentage of badgers was culled in the two pilot zones? Furthermore, will he confirm the scientific advice, which indicates that if there is an underachievement of the 70% target, culling is liable to make the incidence of bovine TB worse because of the impact of perturbation? Given that the current performance in the pilot zones could only be improved by the use of cage trapping, surely the Minister will agree that the pilot has failed in its testing of the assumptions I referred to. That is the key point: the pilots were testing controlled shooting against cage trapping.

It is generally accepted that vaccination presents an effective method of disease control; yet we are often told that the cost of badger vaccination is too high. However, as has been mentioned, according to a written answer from the Minister for Policing, the cost of policing the two pilot culls was around £1.6 million. Does the Minister acknowledge that if an effective cull requires cage trapping, it is more cost-effective to tackle TB in badgers by vaccinating than by killing? I should have said earlier that a greater problem is the incidence of TB in cattle. Will the Minister acknowledge that the Government need to focus more on securing an approved cattle vaccine?

The previous Government’s response to the trials was to authorize six badger vaccine trials, which, combined with the vaccination programme in Wales, offered the opportunity to measure the effectiveness of the approach scientifically over time. The coalition, however, announced in June 2010 that

“it would be reducing the number…from six to one in view of its intention of reviewing policy on badger control, and the need to reduce spending.”

Will the Minister now agree that it was short-sighted to destroy the opportunity of making a rigorous scientific assessment of the effectiveness of vaccination in the field? Will he review that decision?

It is clear from scientific briefing that in Britain, badger behaviour is tightly defined territorially, which means that TB in badgers is to some extent contained by the animals’ social structures; so it is hard to fathom why the incidence of bovine TB has climbed so rapidly in recent years. One can only conclude that there is a need to focus on cattle movement and biosecurity to work out long-term solutions with a view to eradicating the disease.

I support my hon. Friend the Member for Derby North in calling for a review.

Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation

Debate between Mel Stride and Angela Smith

Wednesday 20th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Angela Smith (Penistone and Stocksbridge) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Dover (Charlie Elphicke).

We heard a lot in today’s Budget statement about the “aspiration nation”, but back in 2010 we were told that we could judge the Chancellor by his record and his economic tests. I agree with the Chancellor: we should judge him by his own economic tests, especially now that he has been in his job for three long years. Back in 2010, he told us that he would ensure macro-economic stability by maintaining the UK’s triple A rating. Well, we all know what happened to that, with Moody’s downgrading the Government’s status last month. Back in 2010, he also told us that he would rebalance the economy, creating the conditions for higher exports. A quick look at the statistics shows exports falling in monetary terms and the balance of trade deficit increasing as a percentage of GDP. Quite clearly the UK’s trade with the rest of the world is no success story, despite the 25% devaluation of sterling.

Another promise was that the Chancellor would get people working and reduce youth unemployment. Unfortunately for the blighted lives of the young, he has completely failed on that, too. There are now almost 75,000 extra young people out of work compared with 2010. Worse still, although the Government make a virtue out of the fact that overall unemployment remains static, they need to consider the fact that, without growth, it means that more people are creating less wealth and the country is becoming less productive.

[Mel Stride (Central Devon) (Con)]

The hon. Lady is quite right to focus on employment. Will she congratulate the Government on arriving at a position where we now have around 30 million people in employment, which is the largest number on record?

[Angela Smith]

But the country is becoming less productive. In fact, productivity has declined by 2.4% over the last year, storing up massive problems for the future.

On borrowing, the Chancellor told us that national debt would be falling as a percentage of GDP by 2015-16 and that he would bring down the deficit. It is no secret now that he will miss the first target by a mile, with the OBR saying that debt will not start falling as a share of GDP until at least 2017-18. As for borrowing, it was 6.6% higher for the first 10 months of the 2012-13 financial year than for the same period in 2011-12.