Performance of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Third Opposition Day debate (part 2). Main question negatived on division (186 to 275). Amendment agreed to on division (272 to 187).
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Opposition day on Tuesday, 4 December 2007,
in the House of Commons,
led by Peter Ainsworth.
The answering
member was Hilary Benn.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
468 c753-803, (corrigendum) c1076;468 c753-803
Session
2007-08
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Show all related items (6)
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 468 c753 (Link to this contribution)
We now come to the next motion, on the performance of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural...
Peter Atkinson | 468 c780 (Link to this contribution)
I take the point, and I respect the right hon. Gentleman because he was in the Department for a very...
Show all contributions (90)
Elliot Morley | 468 c779-80 (Link to this contribution)
I respect the hon. Gentleman's knowledge of agriculture, but he knows that a strong body of opinion ...
Elliot Morley | 468 c780 (Link to this contribution)
indicated dissent.
Peter Atkinson | 468 c779 (Link to this contribution)
I take that point.
One cannot measure a Government's performance, or the performance of a Ministry ...
Peter Atkinson | 468 c781-2 (Link to this contribution)
Indeed. On the right to roam, I was pleased to hear the hon. Gentleman use the word ““socialist””, w...
Eric Martlew | 468 c781 (Link to this contribution)
If I may paraphrase the hon. Member for Hexham (Mr. Atkinson), who spoke well, it appears he thinks ...
Elliot Morley | 468 c781 (Link to this contribution)
A good manifesto speech.
Geoffrey Cox | 468 c787 (Link to this contribution)
I must tell the Secretary of State that it would be a gross underestimate of reality to describe DEF...
Lord Swire | 468 c784-7 (Link to this contribution)
There are undoubtedly many challenges for DEFRA's animal health officials, who have been rightly pra...
Eric Martlew | 468 c784 (Link to this contribution)
It is not posh, actually, but that is another story, for which I do not have time. Anyway, the Porsc...
James Paice | 468 c784 (Link to this contribution)
You must live in a posh area!
Eric Martlew | 468 c782-4 (Link to this contribution)
I do not know, but if that is the case, they should perhaps take the blame. The real answer, however...
James Paice | 468 c782 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman says that if everybody had done what they should have done, we would not have exp...
Speaker | 468 c789 (Link to this contribution)
Order. I almost feel sorry to be anticlimactic, but I call Mr. Richard Benyon.
Lord Benyon | 468 c789-91 (Link to this contribution)
I feel entirely anticlimactic, Mr. Deputy Speaker, after the fantastic oratory of my hon. and learne...
Geoffrey Cox | 468 c787-9 (Link to this contribution)
I agree with that, but I shall not be distracted from my main point. There is a problem—the Secretar...
James Paice | 468 c791-3 (Link to this contribution)
One thing that this debate has achieved is to remind us of the great breadth of DEFRA's responsibili...
James Paice | 468 c793 (Link to this contribution)
I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman acknowledges that. I noticed that the hon. Member for Bridge...
Elliot Morley | 468 c793 (Link to this contribution)
indicated assent.
Elliot Morley | 468 c793 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Martin Horwood | 468 c795 (Link to this contribution)
Will the Minister give way?
Phil Woolas | 468 c796 (Link to this contribution)
No—the hon. Gentleman will especially like this bit. ““Of course,”” Mrs. Shephard wrote, ““relations...
Speaker | 468 c796 (Link to this contribution)
Order. It is one thing to quote from a book, but we are not a reading club.
Phil Woolas | 468 c796 (Link to this contribution)
Mr. Speaker, thank you for pulling me up. I commend the book to the House as a damning record of MAF...
Lord McLoughlin | 468 c796 (Link to this contribution)
rose in his place and claimed to move, That the Question be now put.
Question, That the Question be...
Eric Martlew | 468 c767 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman has pointed out that a lot of work remains to be done. Does he believe that all t...
Martin Horwood | 468 c766-7 (Link to this contribution)
Unlike the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr. Ainsworth), I do not live in a world of cartoon goodies ...
Hilary Benn | 468 c764-6 (Link to this contribution)
The answer has to be no, because the 1967 virus was not present in the country. We only put continge...
Philip Dunne | 468 c764 (Link to this contribution)
Did he order a vaccine for the 1967 virus before the outbreak emerged in August?
Martin Horwood | 468 c769 (Link to this contribution)
I do not accept the hon. Gentleman's characterisation. All over the country Liberal Democrat council...
David Chaytor | 468 c769 (Link to this contribution)
If the hon. Gentleman wants his call for higher emission reductions to have credibility, why are Lib...
Martin Horwood | 468 c767-9 (Link to this contribution)
I believe that it would add insult to injury if all the money came from water bills, and I should be...
Philip Dunne | 468 c764 (Link to this contribution)
The Secretary of State mentioned the budget for spending on animal health and, in particular, foot a...
Hilary Benn | 468 c764 (Link to this contribution)
I am afraid that I do not understand the question—
Hilary Benn | 468 c764 (Link to this contribution)
I will happily write to the hon. Gentleman with the precise figure, because I would not want to get ...
Madeleine Moon | 468 c776-8 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Member for North-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Moss) defined DEFRA as a Department dealing with ...
Malcolm Moss | 468 c773-6 (Link to this contribution)
In his speech, the Secretary of State admitted, in his inimitable and endearing style, that when the...
Madeleine Moon | 468 c778 (Link to this contribution)
I thank the hon. Gentleman. Let me just say that this Government have been committed to introducing ...
Martin Horwood | 468 c778 (Link to this contribution)
I think that the hon. Lady may mean the draft marine Bill, as we did not have a Bill in the Queen's ...
Martin Horwood | 468 c779 (Link to this contribution)
I assure the hon. Gentleman that the right to roam has been supported by many more people than socia...
Martin Horwood | 468 c769-70 (Link to this contribution)
I am sorry, I shall not give way again. I do not know the circumstances in the hon. Gentleman's cons...
Speaker | 468 c770-1 (Link to this contribution)
Order. I remind the House that the 10-minute rule on Back Benchers' speeches operates from now on. I...
Elliot Morley | 468 c771-3 (Link to this contribution)
I was disappointed by the speech of the hon. Member for East Surrey (Mr. Ainsworth). It seemed rathe...
Hilary Benn | 468 c763 (Link to this contribution)
I shall reflect on the point that my hon. Friend has made.
On DEFRA's budget and expenditure on wha...
Mark Todd | 468 c763 (Link to this contribution)
May I urge my right hon. Friend to use a mechanism for making the increased flood defence resources ...
Hilary Benn | 468 c763-4 (Link to this contribution)
The question is whether we have the right guidance for the planning authorities, and that is why we ...
Oliver Letwin | 468 c763 (Link to this contribution)
Would the Secretary of State accept that there is something a little odd about spending a large addi...
Peter Ainsworth | 468 c764 (Link to this contribution)
While the Secretary of State is on the subject of spending money, can he tell us how much he is spen...
Hilary Benn | 468 c762 (Link to this contribution)
With respect, the Government have not cut—[Interruption.] If the hon. Lady would let me answer the q...
Hilary Benn | 468 c762 (Link to this contribution)
On the first point, we have just heard two contributions that offer different view on which way the ...
Ian Liddell-Grainger | 468 c762 (Link to this contribution)
I represent Sedgemore and the Levels. I do not know whether the Secretary of State is aware that the...
Martin Salter | 468 c762 (Link to this contribution)
I am sure that the Secretary of State will join me in celebrating the fact that Environment Agency f...
Geoffrey Cox | 468 c760 (Link to this contribution)
Does the Secretary of State regard that principle as also applying to bovine TB? Will he undertake t...
Hilary Benn | 468 c760 (Link to this contribution)
I recognise that point, and I thought long and hard about this issue. There is always an argument fo...
Baroness McIntosh of Pickering | 468 c761-2 (Link to this contribution)
The right hon. Gentleman and I represent parts of a region that has the second highest risk of flood...
Hilary Benn | 468 c761 (Link to this contribution)
I readily acknowledge what my hon. Friend has to say about the operation of the National Fallen Stoc...
Peter Atkinson | 468 c760 (Link to this contribution)
Does the Secretary of State think it was a good idea to announce, as he did a couple of weeks ago, t...
Hilary Benn | 468 c760 (Link to this contribution)
It would have had a very detrimental effect. I share my hon. Friend's puzzlement at the brevity of t...
Tom Levitt | 468 c760 (Link to this contribution)
My right hon. Friend will have been as surprised as I was at the brevity of the Opposition opening s...
Hilary Benn | 468 c759-60 (Link to this contribution)
I am well aware of that point, and let me explain what I have said to the industry. I think the whol...
Peter Ainsworth | 468 c753-4 (Link to this contribution)
I beg to move,"That this House deplores the performance of the Department for Environment, Food and ...
Eric Martlew | 468 c754 (Link to this contribution)
Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Peter Ainsworth | 468 c754 (Link to this contribution)
I will, but not very often, as time is short.
Eric Martlew | 468 c754 (Link to this contribution)
I am grateful. The hon. Gentleman refers to animal diseases, so may I take him back to mad cow's dis...
Peter Ainsworth | 468 c754-5 (Link to this contribution)
You may well decide, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that that has very little to do with DEFRA—[Interruption.]
...
Eric Martlew | 468 c755 (Link to this contribution)
It is interesting that the hon. Gentleman should raise that point. A significant number of regulator...
Peter Ainsworth | 468 c755-6 (Link to this contribution)
I think that that is a rather pathetic question. The hon. Gentleman might like to tell us whether DE...
Eric Martlew | 468 c756 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. Gentleman should ask the leader of his party about the issue of generation of wind.
Speaker | 468 c753 (Link to this contribution)
We now come to the next motion, on the performance of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural...
Tobias Ellwood | 468 c758 (Link to this contribution)
What discussions has the Secretary of State had with his counterpart in the Department for Culture, ...
Hilary Benn | 468 c758-9 (Link to this contribution)
I have talked to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and he an...
James Paice | 468 c758 (Link to this contribution)
Can the Secretary of State confirm that Scotland and Wales have already started making payments for ...
Hilary Benn | 468 c758 (Link to this contribution)
I can indeed confirm that that is my understanding of what Scotland and Wales are doing, but I would...
Desmond Swayne | 468 c759 (Link to this contribution)
On bluetongue, has the Secretary of State given consideration to the French method of using pre-move...
Peter Ainsworth | 468 c759 (Link to this contribution)
I am not remotely embarrassed, because although I did not attribute those remarks in that article, t...
Hilary Benn | 468 c759 (Link to this contribution)
Well, it is a bit late in the day for the hon. Gentleman now to say he was quoting somebody else, bu...
Peter Ainsworth | 468 c756-7 (Link to this contribution)
I take the hon. Gentleman's intervention at face value, and assure him that the Leader of the Opposi...
Hilary Benn | 468 c757-8 (Link to this contribution)
I beg to move, To leave out from ““House”” to the end of the Question, and to add instead thereof:"“...
Speaker | 468 c756 (Link to this contribution)
Order. We must hear the correct parliamentary language in interventions.
Mark Todd | 468 c761 (Link to this contribution)
My right hon. Friend has drawn attention to the partnership models between farmers and his Departmen...
Peter Atkinson | 468 c781 (Link to this contribution)
Indeed, longer than 10 years. Unfortunately, the chief scientific adviser supported a cull. A decisi...
Phil Woolas | 468 c794-5 (Link to this contribution)
I repeat the opening remark of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State—I am as delighted as he w...
Hilary Benn | 468 c763 (Link to this contribution)
It is tempting to give my hon. Friend the assurance that he seeks, but as no final decisions about t...
Hilary Benn | 468 c760-1 (Link to this contribution)
As the hon. and learned Gentleman knows, this is an extremely difficult and complex issue, where the...
Peter Atkinson | 468 c780-1 (Link to this contribution)
Well, for a start, as well as the system bringing in sections such as horticulture that had not been...
Dan Rogerson | 468 c787 (Link to this contribution)
The hon. and learned Gentleman is making excellent points about the good staff at DEFRA. Does he agr...
James Paice | 468 c793-4 (Link to this contribution)
No, I am sorry. I cannot give way because I do not have any overspill time, unless the Minister for ...
Peter Atkinson | 468 c778-9 (Link to this contribution)
It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Bridgend (Mrs. Moon). She talked about free lunches. ...
Notes
Daily part printing error - Amendment to Division 022 at 468 c803, in the Noes, delete "Spring, Mr. Richard".
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2023-12-08 16:21:14 +0000
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