Oral Answers to Questions

William Cash Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Attorney General]

As ever, the Chairman of the Select Committee makes a very important point, and may I take this opportunity to congratulate him from the Dispatch Box on becoming an honorary KC, which I understand will happen on Monday? I am sure that the whole House will want to join me in saying that he is extremely worthy of this very significant honour, and we are all thrilled that it will be given. He does make an important point: words really matter; there will shortly be a statement to the House about that, and about the meaning of the term “extremism.” It is very important that we all choose our words carefully, particularly when it comes to this long-running and difficult conflict. We respect the rulings of the ICJ—of course we do—but that does not mean that we think every case before it is well brought.

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

On the issue of international conventions, treaties and international law, including international humanitarian law and the international refugee convention, will the Attorney General place in the Library over the weekend a legal statement on the circumstances in which international law is trumped by clear and unambiguous words in an Act of Parliament? Will she include in that statement the necessary citations from the Supreme Court and the House of Lords?

[The Attorney General]

My hon. Friend is a great and long-standing Member of this House, and is able to ask questions the answers to which might not automatically be obvious. We are talking here about Palestinian and Israeli counterparts being in compliance with international law, but I am of course delighted to say again to my hon. Friend that this Government are committed to international law—we have said that repeatedly from the Dispatch Box—and I do not see any need to lay a statement such as he suggests, but I will continue to enjoy our conversations on this topic.

UK Canals and Waterways

William Cash Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd November 2022 Westminster Hall

[Michael Fabricant]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that valuable point. Something like 75% of the Canal & River Trust’s funding is from sources other than the Government.

The problem is that our canal system is ageing and is made up of more than 10,000 individual assets, many of which date back 250 years. Many have a high consequence of failure; they are deteriorating and need regular maintenance and repair. That is exacerbated by the impact of more extreme weather events, which make them even more vulnerable. However, it is their age that gives them their beauty and attraction for so many people. Given the serious potential risks posed to neighbouring homes and businesses by the deterioration of reservoirs, high embankments, aqueducts and culverts—imagine what would happen if any of them burst—it is vital that there is stable and sufficient investment in the network to make these assets more resilient and to reduce the possible threat to lives, homes and businesses.

Here is the important bit. The Canal & River Trust receives about a quarter of its funding from the Government, under an agreement secured when it was formed in 2012, and that has been vital in underpinning its progress. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is undertaking a review of its grant for the period beyond March 2027, when the agreement comes to an end. A decision was due in July, but there have inevitably been delays, owing partly to covid and partly to a little turbulence in the Conservative party.

Although it is right that sufficient time be taken to judge the importance of the waterways properly, I would be grateful if the Minister could clarify the revised timetables for the review decision, as the uncertainty is causing great concern to users of the waterways and will soon start to hinder the trust’s ability to plan for the future. It has many important long-term projects to deliver, which could affect the safety of so many people. When will a funding announcement be made?

It should also be noted that the trust’s grant is declining in real terms and is now worth only a little over half of what British Waterways received prior to 2008. It is also fixed for the six years from 2021 to 2027, so the trust is suffering a significant shortfall at a time when many of its costs are rising by significantly more than the 10% headline inflation rate. Roughly £50 million a year is a very small amount for the Government to contribute for such a huge range of benefits.

At the same time, the trust’s wide range of risks, obligations and legal liabilities is growing, in part due to the impact of climate change. The network is subject to more extreme weather events, to which it is acutely vulnerable. That poses a potential threat to the many neighbouring homes and businesses. The risk has dramatically changed, even in the past 10 years. The level of spend now required was not anticipated when the trust was first established, but it must nevertheless be addressed.

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

As a neighbour to my hon. Friend and a fellow Staffordshire MP, I congratulate him on his excellent speech, which eloquently covers the points we would all like to make. In my constituency, waterways are the lifeblood of the economy, and I would like to thank people such as Michael Haig for the work they do.

[Michael Fabricant]

I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. I have forgotten its name, but I have walked along the canal in Stone. It is a beautiful canal, and all the things it generates, such as pubs and the local life, mean that it is very much at the heart of the community.

To go back to funding, about half of the trust’s planned asset spend is now on reservoir safety. It has added about £70 million to its priority expenditure over five years. Despite those pressures, it has been very effective in developing its own income sources to reduce dependency on future Government funding. Its endowment has grown ahead of market benchmarks, and it has found innovative ways to grow commercial and charitable income.

The trust has built strong partnerships with others, such as the People’s Postcode Lottery, which has been a long-term funder, acting as a delivery partner with the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Transport, important public agencies such as Sport England and Natural England, and health service providers, which recognise the tangible benefits the trust can deliver. In 2021-22, the Government grant fell, having made up nearly 40% of the trust’s total income in the British Waterways days before 2010, and it is projected to decline to 20% of the trust’s income by 2027. The trust has therefore not been sitting idly by, just relying on Government funding.

The trust remains fully committed to reducing the share of its funding coming directly from Government over the long term and is continuing to work in partnership. That transition has to happen at a pace that reflects the reality on the ground; securing the investment our waterways need must be the priority. Without that, their future is at risk, the trust’s ability to maintain them is jeopardised, and millions could stand to lose the enjoyment of such a wide-reaching and essential national asset—what I referred to as a national treasure and part of our national heritage.

For those who live on boats, for businesses that depend on waterways, which we have heard about today, and for the services and utilities that need to be carried out on well-maintained towpaths, the effect could be even more devastating. The decline and deterioration of the waterways is an unthinkable outcome for the nation and the communities we represent. I spoke about this the other day on ITV, which also reported from a narrow boat, whose owner painted a bleak picture of what life on the waterways could be like. She said:

“Without that top layer of money coming in, the canals will probably go to rack and ruin; they’ll probably become muddy ditches and then nobody will want to walk along them, anglers won’t be able to fish and boaters will have nowhere to go.”

She compared the prospect of the decline of our canals—so central to our industrial heritage—with letting the Tower of London fall down.

Our canals are no longer simply remnants of our industrial past; they are a significant social, environmental and economic contributor to our modern society and an integral part of our national infrastructure and heritage. The Minister needs to confirm the timeline for these vital decisions, so that the trust is able to plan the vital investment in our waterways for the longer term, and to give reassurance to the millions who care so passionately for them. That the Government remain committed to the future of our national canal network must be made clear. Underfunding our canals would be a false economy; once they begin to decline, their demise may become inevitable and their benefits may be lost, as they enter a vicious circle, falling into ever worse neglect and disrepair. Like the once great Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, only once they are gone forever will a nation mourn their passing.

The Climate Emergency

William Cash Excerpts

Thursday 17th October 2019 Commons Chamber

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

It was encouraging that at the very outset of the Queen’s Speech the Government committed to seize the opportunities for agriculture that will arise from leaving the European Union. Cheshire farmers support the Government’s endeavours to obtain a good deal, but are deeply concerned about the possibility of no deal. They are concerned in particular about three areas: tariffs, welfare standards and farm labour. They want a deal to end the current uncertainty. An egg manufacturer in Congleton has bought in extra packaging three times now due to uncertainty. So they and I very much support the Prime Minister in his endeavours to achieve a deal.

With regard to tariffs, the UK dairy industry produces 14 billion litres of milk a year, of which 3.25 billion litres are exported to the EU. A dairy farmer said that if a deal cannot be achieved and milk exported to the EU attracts a tariff of around 40% while imported milk could attract no tariff at all, this would be unsustainable, saturating our milk markets and risking a collapse in milk prices. This could result in a milk price reduction of 1p or more per litre, which could cost a dairy farmer £20,000 a year—the difference between survival and closure.

The tariff on eggs being exported from the UK into Europe could be 19% in the event of no deal, whereas there would be no tariff on imports. An egg producer in my constituency fears a major flood on to the market of eggs, particularly dried eggs and eggs in products, which constitute almost 50% of egg sales and may not have been produced to the high welfare standards we have in this country. Farmers locally are saying the proposed tariffs could be damaging not only to farmers’ livelihoods but to consumers’ health if imports are not up to UK standards.

On the issue of farm labour, there is already a shortage of workers, for example in horticultural businesses. Farmers are concerned that the situation will be exacerbated unless it is addressed. Already, some horticultural crops cannot be harvested.

The pressure of those concerns and the current uncertainty is impacting on farmers’ mental health. Farmers are our strongest environmentalists; without them we simply would not have the environment we enjoy, and it is interesting that the National Farmers Union target year for net zero carbon is 2040, not 2050. Government working together with farmers will be key to achieving such environmental targets, and farmers want to do so. Will Ministers meet me and Cheshire farmers to discuss that?

Finally, I regret to say that while I support my farmers, as a result my constituency office is to be targeted with a demonstration. It is a wholly inappropriate and relatively confined location for a demonstration, with a children’s mental health charity opposite and a doctor’s surgery next door, not to mention the potential impact on constituents visiting my surgeries and on my staff. The local Labour party activists who have organised this demonstration appear to have joined forces with those opposing the Government tuberculosis eradication strategy in Cheshire. Farmers in my constituency are experiencing the worst difficulties with TB in their cattle of anywhere in the county; it is a big problem to local farmers and is taking its toll financially and emotionally. In 2018, some 2,231 cows had to be put down in Cheshire because they were infected with TB. Culling has been effective in the Republic of Ireland, and a peer-reviewed scientific report published just this week and endorsed by DEFRA shows a 66% reduction in new TB rates in cattle after badger culling. Cheshire farmers support this, and I agree.

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. As Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, I have now been informed that a withdrawal agreement has been agreed. I have been to the Library to ask for a copy to indicate the difference between the document in my hand, which is from March 2019, and the new agreement. I put it on record that this is a matter of extreme importance to the United Kingdom and to our Parliament. We need a copy of the new withdrawal agreement at the earliest opportunity.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir Lindsay Hoyle)]

I totally concur that we need hon. Members to know what is in the new document. The hon. Gentleman’s point is on the record, and people will have heard it. Let us hope that the document is available very shortly.

UK’s Withdrawal from the European Union

William Cash Excerpts

Wednesday 13th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dominic Grieve (Beaconsfield) (Con)]

I cannot agree with my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood) that a no-deal Brexit is somehow eminently liveable with; it plainly is not. From looking at my own constituency, talking to the pharmaceutical companies that are there and looking at the costs already incurred by them to try to face up to the prospect of no deal and the risks they run if no deal goes ahead, it seems plain to me that no deal would be very damaging to this country indeed: damaging in the short term because of the chaos that will accompany it, and damaging in the medium to long term because I believe we will be seriously economically disadvantaged by it.

I find it genuinely very troubling that as we come closer to the crunch there seem to be more and more people who may previously have advocated a deal but, not seeing that there is a deal around, suddenly decide that no deal is the option because they cannot get what they want or the form of deal they might desire. It is an extraordinary form of frenzy: they smash up the china first, and when they are not satisfied with the china they have smashed, they decide to smash some more. That is what we are facing, and it is my duty to do everything I possibly can to prevent it, and I will continue to do that for as long as the opportunities for doing it present themselves.

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

My right hon. and learned Friend talks about smashing up the law; does he not accept that section 1 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 makes it abundantly and expressly clear that we will repeal the European Communities Act 1972 on exit day?

[Mr Grieve]

It may do, but it lies within our capacity to change it, and we will have to change it; indeed, it is inherent that it will be changed in the next fortnight, and I will move on to that in a moment.

I do not want to dwell on the risks of no deal in practice because I do not wish to repeat what others have said perfectly eloquently. So then we turn to this process, and I simply point out that it is very unfortunate that instead of what I understood yesterday would be a clear opportunity for this House to express itself against the principle of no deal and make clear that we do not want it before moving on tomorrow to discuss what we might do to prevent it, which is a real issue, the Government have tabled a motion that gives the distinct impression that, like children, we will be offered the same pudding, if not eaten at lunchtime, at tea time, supper time and now for breakfast, when it is perfectly clear that this House has rejected this pudding in its totality.

As a consequence, something that might bring us together in reasoned debate has started to be undermined by a suspicion that the Government are interested only in forcing a binary choice between no deal and accepting their agreement. Listening to the Secretary of State at the Dispatch Box earlier, I began to realise that perhaps that was not the case, but then why was the motion ever tabled in this fashion? I cannot understand that. In fact, the amendment tabled by my right hon. Friend the Member for Meriden (Dame Caroline Spelman) was correct in trying to identify and deal with that mischief.

The Government have a point, however. I agreed with a lot of what the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Jess Phillips) said, and there is an issue here. This House has lived under the protection of our party system for a long time. I am now beginning to see a distinction on my Benches, and actually on the other Benches, between those of us who have in a sense exposed ourselves and as a consequence get a huge amount of threats, flak and invective, and those of my colleagues—I do not include the Prime Minister in this, because she has many a burden—who are hiding behind the party system to avoid making the difficult choices. We cannot go on doing this. The party system might restore itself—I rather hope that it does—but as things stand at the moment, it is blown to pieces.

We have to make the decisions. Are we going to find a motion to accept the Prime Minister’s deal being offered up again? I do not want that, because I think that it is a poor deal, despite her best efforts. Are we going to find some other deal? Or are we going to revoke? Revocation is not something that I would wish to do without going back to the public, because in the light of the referendum, that would be a rather draconian and dangerous step. However, we will have to address that question because, otherwise, we will go round in circles and the Minister is right to say that we will eventually run out of time. We will simply have pushed back the cliff edge. We will have to resolve this, but at the moment, the Government are not helping by tabling motions of this tendentious character. I really urge my colleagues on the Front Bench to face up to their responsibility and to ensure, first, that we get some clarity from them tonight, and secondly, that we can take this debate forward.

UK Fishing Industry

William Cash Excerpts

Thursday 1st December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr Alistair Carmichael (Orkney and Shetland) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), who brings his customary clarity and simplicity to today’s arguments. However, I disagree with a great deal of his analysis of the problems. It must be stressed rather more than it has been that taking back control is only part of the answer. There is then the question of what we do with it.

If we are to construct our own domestic fisheries management system, there is an opportunity to put fishermen, conservationists and scientists at the heart of fisheries management—proper regional and local management—and to use scientific advice. The right hon. Gentleman said that 50% of such advice was wrong. I doubt that, but I do know that it is at least two years out of date by the time it informs the decision-making process. We need a better way of using that information to inform the process so that whether we use quotas, days at sea, closed areas or whatever, the information on which we rely properly and accurately reflects the stocks in the water.

We must not forget that even if we leave the European Union and even if we have control over the waters as others have suggested, that would not be the end of our interaction with the common fisheries policy. We share waters in the North sea, the English channel and the western approaches in the Irish sea, and other countries have historic rights of access to our waters. If they continue to mismanage stocks in a way that was unfortunately a feature of the past, that will have continuing impact on our fishermen, too.

I wish the Minister well as he goes to the December Council meeting. In the light of everything else, it will perhaps be a trickier negotiation than in recent years, but the environment will be slightly less febrile than when the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) was fisheries Minister. I go back 12, 13 or 14 years in such debates, and back then we thought it possible that the spawning stock biomass of North sea cod had reached a point from which there would be no recovery. In fact, we have a seen a quite remarkable recovery in North sea white fish stocks, but that has not happened by accident—a thought that occurred to me as the right hon. Gentleman was explaining the changes. I think around 47% of stocks are still overfished—too high, but a significant improvement on where we were. That improvement is a consequence of the changes made in fisheries management, in particular the creation of regional advisory councils, and of the significant pain that was borne by the fishing industry and communities during the decommissioning programmes of 10 years ago.

The attractions of this opportunity to the catching sector are pretty obvious, but there are concerns for the future beyond that sector. The processing sector heavily relies and has relied for many years on the availability of workers from other EU countries. Those people want to know what their future will be. If we are to have a set of World Trade Organisation rules and if there are tariffs on trade, that will have a seriously disadvantageous impact on processors, which will also hit the catchers. That is why it is crucial to get clarity as early as possible.

Like the right hon. Member for Tynemouth (Mr Campbell), I want to bring a few items from my shopping list to this debate. The Minister has already heard my worries about the Faroese deal on mackerel. There was enormous scepticism among the Scottish pelagic fleet, the Shetland pelagic catchers in particular, when the deal was brokered a few years ago. However, they did accept that they would give it a go. They gave it a go, and it is clear that that scepticism was, if anything, understated. This deal really is not working, as was highlighted recently by the report from Seafish, which pointed out that in 2015 Faroese boats caught almost 33,000 tonnes of mackerel in EU waters, mostly in Scotland’s, while Scottish boats got absolutely none from the Faroese waters. Worse, if the Faroese boats choose to land their fish in Scotland, they are then penalised by their Government. The Minister will know that the talks on the next iteration of this deal are to be held in Brussels on 6 and 7 December, so may I instil in him the strongest possible resolve in tackling this, because the imbalance of this deal becomes more egregious with every year that passes?

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

I wonder whether the right hon. Gentleman is concerned about the fact that this document excludes the question of those parts of the fishing industry that I suspect would be of concern to him in relation to the joint management with Norway. The European Scrutiny Committee drew attention to that and I wonder whether it is a matter of concern to his constituents.

Dairy Industry

William Cash Excerpts

Wednesday 4th February 2015 Westminster Hall

[Mr Evans]

Yes. It will not have gone unnoticed by my hon. Friend and others that Sainsbury’s took out a large advert in a number of newspapers indicating those supermarkets that are being fair and those that are not. I will refer to that later.

Edward Cowperthwaite’s farm is a bit further into the village. He milks a smaller herd than John Cowperthwaite. He came off his tractor to speak to me yesterday. He is not on a contract and has seen two successive cuts to his milk price, in January and February this year. He works seven days a week and cannot afford to employ anyone. He has some sheep to keep his income up, and his wife works as a teacher, so thankfully he can make a go of it, but he has five youngsters and is not sure that any of them will want to enter farming while it is in this particular predicament.

At the top of the village is William Slinger’s farm, which he can trace back to 1603. He has a larger herd of cows, plus sheep, and is the founding director of Bowland Fresh, which about 30 local farms feed into. Both Booths and Asda take his milk, and he works hard to ensure the scheme works for the participating farmers. I want to thank Booths in particular, as the founding buyer for Bowland Fresh, for the considerate way that it has treated local suppliers. Edwin Booth lives locally and knows that the value of milk is not simply the plastic bottle people take away from his stores. I also thank Asda for its support for Bowland Fresh.

Whether the cause is Russian sanctions, the reduced Chinese market or simply an over-supply in the market after a very good year last year, the fact is that the price for milk on some farms is now way below the cost of production. A local dairy farmer from Samlesbury, Graham Young, who is also a member of the National Farmers Union north-west dairy board, told me that many farmers joined the European milk co-operative, Arla, and are getting under 25p a litre; some farmers are in the First Milk co-operative and are getting around 20p a litre. Although the longer term is looking good, those prices are not sustainable in the short term, and farmers have to survive the short term first.

The current situation has energised a number of MPs who, like me, think something must be done. Those include my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Miss McIntosh), who is here today. She is Chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, which produced an excellent report last month making a number of important recommendations. My hon. Friend the Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (Simon Hart), who is also here, had an Adjournment debate in November on this issue; sadly, the plight of the industry has worsened since then. A number of Members have put down or signed early-day motions and raised issues relating to dairying on the Floor of the House, including my hon. Friend the Member for Stone.

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

Non-payment caused a huge crisis. Will my hon. Friend give some thought to the idea that the Government could help by engaging more, through public procurement of services? People who are in the Army, the education sector and other sectors could get milk supplied in a way that would help our farmers, and would ensure that the Government were taking an active part on this issue.

[Mr Evans]

That is an excellent idea, and I hope that the Minister will be able to respond to it, given the Government’s ability to direct procurement towards British dairy farmers.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

This is an important and interesting debate. The dairy farming industry is integral to Staffordshire and my constituents, as it has been for generations, and it is incredibly important for the local economy. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Mr Evans) on his charter for the dairy industry, and I am extremely glad that he has listed public procurement, as so many others have today, as part and parcel of giving a fair deal to the dairy farming industry. I also congratulate the Chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on the Committee’s fifth report, which it published the other day. We are seriously getting into it and, additionally, the Prime Minister has given his backing.

We will hear from the Minister in a moment, but when we consider the questions of intervention price, labelling and public procurement, there is a European dimension. Not unnaturally, as Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, I am concerned that we should not be held back simply because the rules and regulations that have been devised and that generate an enormous number of problems for our dairy farming industry, and indeed for other businesses, are allowed to prevail against our national interest. I will leave that thought with the House.

I tabled early-day motion 675 on the non-payment of dairy farmers, and there are a number of signatories. I would be extremely grateful if people signed that early-day motion, which points out, as others have said today, that

“the number of dairy farmers had dipped below 10,000 for the first time, a 50 per cent fall since 2001”.

That is a serious figure that demonstrates everything that has been said in this room by these extremely eloquent speakers on behalf of dairy farmers. The case has been made, and we now look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say.

Common Agricultural Policy

William Cash Excerpts

Tuesday 18th June 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Heath]

I hope that I have not misled the House in any way on this. We will bring forward our own proposals that will apply to England. I was simply making the point that the devolved Administrations would not have to conform to an English model. They will be able to devise their own schemes that will work best for them.

[Mr William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

I am extremely interested in the Minister’s point about the United Kingdom having policies that are relevant to our own interests. In relation to the review of competences, will he tell us whether there is any intention to repatriate the common agricultural policy?

[Mr Heath]

That depends on how we define repatriation. We have been arguing strongly for increased flexibility at national and regional level for those countries that have devolved Administrations. The obvious examples are the United Kingdom and Belgium, both of which feel strongly about this matter. We need the option to define some of the terms and regulations that will be put in place, so that they match our forms of agriculture. There is already divergence within this country over the application of the CAP. For example, there are still historic payments in Scotland. In my personal view, there will eventually be a need for internal convergence on that issue, but it is for the Scots to decide on the rate of change and on whether that should happen sooner or later. I believe that it is a distorting element at the moment.

The UK Government also argued, however, that we did not want a sudden, bumpy transition that would put the Scottish Government in difficulties while they were trying to achieve their objectives. So, although we want internal convergence, we have asked for as smooth a transition as possible because that will be in the interests of the devolved Administrations. There is already a considerable degree of variation in the way in which the current scheme works. We are trying to ensure that that continues and is enhanced under the new rules.

Horsemeat (Food Fraud)

William Cash Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paterson]

The hon. Lady is absolutely right. I talked to her Minister, Richard Lochhead, only yesterday. She may be a great advocate of locally produced Scottish beef, and I may be a great advocate of British beef—or Shropshire beef—but she is absolutely right that British consumers should have faith in locally produced food.

[Mr William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

I am sure my right hon. Friend will be glad to know that many of us want to know whether the European Commission is being held accountable under the EU’s food and labelling regulations, which include specific notification of the species of the animal used in food. Will he assure us that all necessary actions and discussions are being pursued with Commissioner Borg to ensure that those with the legal obligations to audit these matters—including the directorate, under him, of the food and veterinary office—comply with EU standards?

[Mr Paterson]

My hon. Friend is absolutely spot-on to recognise the key role of the Commissioner, as this is a European competence, and that is why I spoke to him today. I am pleased to record that he was extraordinarily co-operative. We are going to fix up a meeting—at very short notice—with him and the key Agriculture Ministers some time this week. The point my hon. Friend raises is definitely one that I will make clear to the Commissioner at that meeting.

Ash Dieback Disease

William Cash Excerpts

Monday 29th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Heath]

May I make it absolutely clear that we will not fail in our fight against this disease through lack of resources? We will make available from the Department those resources that are identified as necessary by the scientific team and taskforce that we have brought together to consider what should be done next.

[Mr William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

Has my hon. Friend experienced any resistance from the European Commission or the European Union regarding the import ban, as was suggested on the “Today” programme a couple of days ago? If so, will he make certain that under no circumstances we will allow the EU to stand in the way of the plans that he has announced?

[Mr Heath]

In this instance I can put my hon. Friend’s fears to rest because the EU has not impeded what we have sought to do in any way. Indeed, we have been working extremely closely with colleagues in other countries who, to date, have faced a much larger incidence of this disease than we have. We have been able to learn from their experiences and put those lessons into action in this country.

Dairy Industry

William Cash Excerpts

Thursday 13th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Thomas Docherty]

The hon. Gentleman is correct. I will touch on the role that the groceries code may play in that process in the future. I did not say that I necessarily agreed with the assertions about Devon, but they have been forcefully made on more than one occasion.

I say well done to those retailers who have belatedly got on board, but why did it take them so long? The actions of the House and the dairy industry forced the retailers to take those steps. Members on both sides of the House will look to the Minister to hold all elements of the supply chain to account. We all want the groceries code and the voluntary code to work, but it is vital that he takes the lead on pushing through these issues.

On the specific case of the adjudicator, the previous Government gained cross-party support for a supermarket ombudsman to ensure a fair deal for farmers and food producers from the major retailers. Following a Competition Commission inquiry in 2008, Labour introduced a new groceries supply code of practice in August 2009, which came into effect in February 2010. The Competition Commission also recommended the creation of an ombudsman to enforce and monitor the code of practice.

This Government presented their Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill in the House of Lords before the summer recess. However, the Bill grants only limited power to the adjudicator to tackle the issues in the dairy industry. It will be limited to tackling the direct supply between the processor and the supermarket, or the farmer if they have a direct contract with the supermarket, and will not be able to deal with a three-party contract. I hope that the Minister will reflect on that and listen to the Select Committee’s cross-party advice.

[Mr William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

It would be highly desirable, would it not, if the milk that is used in the Houses of Parliament came from UK sources at a fair and sustainable price? Does the hon. Gentleman agree that if we gave a lead in the Houses of Parliament, it would send out a big message?

[Thomas Docherty]

The House of Commons Commission has urged the catering and retail services to ensure that we operate within the European rules—I am conscious that I am now setting off a whole new avenue for the hon. Gentleman—but perhaps the Minister will set out what steps he will take to ensure that all Departments buy their milk from British farmers.

The issue that we have faced time and again during this dispute is that retailers have argued that the cuts on farm-gate prices were being implemented by the milk processors and not by the retailers. The reality is that, as the hon. Member for North Cornwall (Dan Rogerson) mentioned earlier, the downward pressure has come from the supermarket shelves, and that pressure is passed on to the milk processors, who then pass it on to the producers.

We have urged Ministers in the Lords to keep open the option of extending the powers of the groceries code adjudicator. I hope that when the Bill comes to the House of Commons, the Minister will consider talking to his colleagues in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills about the potential of extending the GCA’s powers if necessary.

In closing, I have a few questions to put to the Minister.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty) on securing this debate.

Staffordshire is one of the UK’s leading dairy counties. Dairy farming is important to my constituency; let us not forget how important it is to so many others. Some 70 trades and suppliers, possibly more, are estimated to depend on each 400-acre dairy farm.

Another almost unique feature is that Staffordshire has kept its county farms, which were set up after the first world war. Half of Staffordshire’s county farms, some 50 of them, are in my constituency of Stafford. Those farms provide a route into dairy farming for young people, which is essential because the average age of farmers is between 55 and 65, depending on who we listen to.

Last Friday, I attended a meeting at Church farm, Coppenhall, at the invitation of the Madders family, with many dairy farmers and the National Farmers Union. We discussed the problems they face. As time is brief, I will highlight three or four areas.

Clearly, the first area is milk prices and fair treatment. The common refrain was, “Give us the highs in prices and we’ll take the lows.” It is often said that the processors and supermarkets are quick to put down the prices paid to farmers but are slow to raise them when the market goes up, and the market will surely go up because dairy production figures across Europe in August 2012 show that in Germany production was 0.3% down, in France production was 1.7% down and in the UK production was 3.7% down. Those figures reflect a combination of the weather and low milk prices. So there will surely be price rises, which must be passed on to farmers.

The second vital area is marketing. Many of my constituents are already taking up the challenge of adding value—Bertelin Farmhouse Cheese in Ellenhall, for example, which was previously in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr Cash), who will no doubt know the farm—but there is much more potential. I have recently had to start buying lactose-free milk, for which there is a huge market in the UK, yet the milk I buy is made in Denmark by Arla.

[Mr Cash]

Does my hon. Friend agree that there are also enormous export opportunities for dairy farmers? I have just come back from India, from where people will shortly be coming to see Staffordshire dairy farmers precisely to try to develop joint ventures. Is that not a great opportunity?

[Jeremy Lefroy]

As so often, my hon. Friend is a prophet. I was just about to say that.

The previous Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for South East Cambridgeshire (Mr Paice), who has rightly been applauded, was in China on a trade mission and saw no British dairy products, despite there being many from the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and so on. We must do more, and the industry must do better.

Supermarkets, too, can do more. On a holiday in the Republic of Ireland a few years ago, I entered a Tesco that was festooned with Irish tricolours promoting products processed or produced in the Republic of Ireland. I welcome that great idea. I want to see far more Union flags in UK supermarkets promoting British foods.

The UK Government, too, can do more, but, first, a word of praise from the farmers. They say to me, and I do not know whether hon. Members agree, that the Rural Payments Agency has improved considerably in the past two or three years, and due credit should go to the RPA and the ministerial team.

As the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (Jonathan Edwards) said, the current EU negotiations are vital. I am concerned to hear that British representation is not as strong as sometimes it should be. In a debate last year, I stressed the continued importance of single farm payments, particularly to the small farmers who continue to be the backbone of the UK dairy industry. The UK and Portugal are currently the only countries applying voluntary modulation from pillar one to pillar two. The concentration on environmental measures has clear benefits, but we should not go any further in that modulation if it puts us at a competitive disadvantage to our European neighbours.

I want to allow time for others to speak, so I will conclude by saying that I welcome this debate. The time is right for fair prices. I worked for many years in the coffee industry, in which I saw the impact of fair trade and fair prices. I would like to see a similar approach in the dairy industry, based on the voluntary code of practice, with supermarkets, processors and farmers working together.

Finally, I pay great tribute to those dairy farmers who work day in, day out, week in, week out, rising before dawn and going to bed late at night, to put those products on our tables.

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[Mr William Cash (Stone) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish) and the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty) on securing the debate, which is essential.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Jeremy Lefroy) said, Staffordshire has one of the largest dairy farming industries in the country. I used to be the Member of Parliament for Stafford—now I am the Member for Stone—but I remain a Staffordshire MP. Dairy farmers work incredibly hard, and I was pleased to meet my dairy farmers at the Central hall rally a few weeks ago. I have had several meetings with them over the past few weeks and I entirely agree with all their arguments, which extend not only to the cost of milk and the price that they get for it but to TB and how, as a result of the legal decision in the High Court this week, we will be having further progress on that shortly. I also regard the ombudsman in the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill, which I am glad that the Government have brought in, as important.

It must be 10 or 15 years ago that I spoke to the Office of Fair Trading, calling for fair competition in milk prices, so I have some history on the issue. As long ago as 1984, the by-election that got me into Parliament for the first time was completely dominated by milk and that has lived with me ever since. I have had great pleasure working with dairy farmers, who are wonderful people and work incredibly hard.

I congratulate the Minister, whose constituency of Somerton and Frome includes the villages that my wife’s family comes from, and the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for North Shropshire (Mr Paterson), on their new posts. I welcome them to tricky problems on such things as nitrate vulnerable zones, as mentioned by my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton, or the potential for compulsory codes and various other European Union measures—people will be familiar with my concern over those. It is one thing to hope, as in the notes that we received today, that people might be able to amend grassland derogation, to promote the principles of better regulation and to deal with and reverse the nitrate vulnerable zones, but there is only one way of reversing them—as my hon. Friend the Minister will acknowledge—which is by negotiating, which might be almost impossible, or by applying the notwithstanding rule, the use of which I have advocated for many years to override European legislation. That is what the National Farmers Union is calling for, which I am pleased to commend, because we have reached a point at which much European legislation—the call for federation and all the rest of it—has now become utterly absurd. There is also the question of public procurement contracts. I said that it would be a good idea if we in Parliament ensured that we paid a sustainable and fair price, because that would give a lead, and would demonstrate our commitment to our dairy farmers.

I believe strongly—and I commend my hon. Friends the Members for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) and for Stafford for joining me—in encouraging the prospects for dairy farming activity in export markets, and joint ventures. In India, I met an Indian businessman who is running a company called Milky Moo. He is coming over to see Staffordshire farmers, and I am happy to invite my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford to join us if Milky Moo needs experience and knowledge. Believe it or not, its milk production includes contracts with 10,000 farmers, and it expects that to rise to 100,000 farmers in that part of India in a few years. It is a huge business, and we can offer a lot of expertise. Some of the briefings we received contain sound advice, and the naming and shaming of those who are not prepared to co-operate in the new voluntary code is an important aspect of where we need to go.

That is all I need to say. I agree with so much that has been said by hon. Members on both sides of the House. This is a very good demonstration of the fact that Parliament is working very hard for the dairy farming industry, and the fact that so many hon. Members have turned up is a great tribute to their determination to do the best for their farmers.

[Mr Charles Walker (in the Chair)]

We are making fantastic progress. If we maintain discipline, I hope that we can get all hon. Members over the line.

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[Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) (Lab)]

This has been a tremendous debate. If my arithmetic is correct and I include the Front-Bench speakers, we will have had 26 contributions, plus interventions. That is quite something. We have heard from all parts of the Chamber, and there has been a large degree of consensus on the way forward, on how to learn the lessons not only from this summer but from where we have been before, especially at the producer end, and on how to reach a long-term solution. I thank all Members for that, especially my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Thomas Docherty) and the hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish) who introduced this debate.

I want to say something that no one has said so far—milk is a fantastic and delicious product. I know that from having three boys who are all mad keen on rugby and football. It is their after-training drink, so it is not only delicious but nutritious. Perhaps we should resurrect that old saying, “Drink a pint of milk a day.” We should also find an equivalent saying for yoghurt, cheese and all the manufactured products that we should be producing in the UK as well.

[Mr Cash]

I raise my glass because it did have milk in it until I was told by the policeman outside that I could not bring it in. Downstairs in the cafeteria, a small glass of milk costs 70p.

[Huw Irranca-Davies]

Perhaps the Administration Committee will look at the rules and allow us to bring in good UK products. I thank, too, the Select Committee for its recent and long-standing work. The detail and forensic analysis that it has applied to the subject will be of help to us and to the Minister. I welcome the new Minister to his position and tell him that we want to work with the Government to strengthen future policies. I hope that he will be open to some of our suggestions.

This is a welcome opportunity to debate the industry, especially after our dairy farming sector—I apologise to hon. Members for saying this in the Chamber—took on a slightly French flavour. We had protests, blockades and threats of direct action that were not carried through. The hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire (Roger Williams) said that the former Agriculture Minister fronted up a very heated session in the Methodist hall, which he did. He did what a Farming Minister should do, which is to front up the debate and earn his salary. It was an immensely difficult and confrontational meeting, but he earned his stripes. Although not everything he said was welcome, he really earned his salary that day and, as a Minister, he did the right thing—he did not hide.

We now have a very good chance to examine not only what has been going wrong, but more importantly what can be done to resolve the situation. In fact, I returned this morning from a meeting with farmers just outside Corby. That is no coincidence; people will probably know that we have a tremendous Labour candidate there, Andy Sawford, who was with me today. We were out meeting people, but we discussed in detail some of the issues that arose from the dairy crisis and the long-term solutions that are needed for the future.

I have already welcomed the new Minister to his portfolio, but I also pay tribute to his predecessor, the right hon. Member for South East Cambridgeshire (Mr Paice). He and I did not agree on everything. If we had, not only would he be a Conservative but I would be a Conservative, or perhaps a Liberal Democrat—I am not sure. I regard him as a very decent man who wanted to do the right thing for agriculture. Reshuffles are a brutal affair, and his successor, the new Minister, will want to strive to avoid any dairy crisis in the future, as we all do, and we will try to work with him to prevent another crisis.

Let me put on the record some of Labour’s bottom lines. We want a fair deal for farmers, food manufacturers and retailers, but we should not forget consumers. We want a fair deal for them, too—a point made by the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Miss McIntosh), the Chairman of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, in her contribution to the debate. We want a competitive and equitable supply chain that delivers not only profitability all along that supply chain, but affordability for the shopper. That is not a lot to ask, although sometimes this summer it seemed like a huge task to achieve. To that end, we welcome wholeheartedly the dairy coalition’s 10-point plan. We want the consultation on the EU dairy package to be carried out this autumn without fail, so that producer organisations can gain formal recognition.

It is perhaps not surprising for a party that was born from one parent within the co-operative movement that Labour wants to see more producer-based organisation within the dairy sector. However, that is not simply about strengthening bargaining power—bargaining power has been referred to repeatedly today—or seeing some new imbalance that might be to the detriment of the consumer. It is vital not only that farmers can balance power in the supply chain, which is not in equilibrium, but that dairy producers come together, transfer right up the value chain by investing in food production, as well as food processing, and develop higher-value products for both the domestic and export markets. We should not forget the export market, although it has not had much attention today.