Common Agricultural Policy

I commend the hon. Lady on her introductory remarks to this debate. It is a good opportunity. I a...

I absolutely take the hon. Gentleman’s point. It is essential that farmers in other European coun...

The hon. Lady is pursuing an important point, and I would be concerned if there is some contradic...

That is the case, but farmers who are coming to the end of a 10-year agreement now face the prosp...

I intend to make a short contribution. I congratulate the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Miss...

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Chope. I thank my hon. Friend the Member fo...

The hon. Gentleman makes an important point about food prices. Does he agree that, although peopl...

The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point. The payments coming to farmers have encouraged the...

I attended the same breakfast as the hon. Gentleman; it was a good discussion. On the important p...

The shadow Minister is exactly right, and he leads me down a path towards making a point on which...

On science, technology and innovation, as my hon. Friend knows, because he has attended meetings ...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. I congratulate him on chairing the all-party group. We need to...

I agree with the hon. Gentleman on his latter point, because in Scotland we have some serious dis...

I understand exactly where the hon. Lady is coming from, but looking at Scotland, dare I question...

Does my hon. Friend agree that a problem with a one-size-fits-all policy such as the CAP is that ...

Yes. My hon. Friend raises a good point. What needs to be brought in is not only a policy, but co...

I completely accept that point, but does my hon. Friend agree that for any other goods, and in an...

My hon. Friend has heard the phrase, “The law works for the law-abiding,” and we can be certain t...

It is a pleasure, Mr Chope, to serve under your chairmanship again. I congratulate the hon. Membe...

As ever, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Chope. I want to focus on the conc...

May I commend my hon. Friend, Mr Chope, on introducing into the debate the concept of a one-natio...

I thought for a moment that my hon. Friend was congratulating you, Mr Chope, on introducing that ...

indicated assent.

I am glad that the Minister is nodding. I hope that he repeats that when he comes to make his spe...

Thank you for allowing me to speak, Mr Chope. I am conscious that I was not here for the opening ...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the set-aside argument. Do we actually get value for mon...

That is right. The environmental stewardship schemes in pillar two are much more proactive about ...

What are the hon. Gentleman’s thoughts on the proposal I floated earlier? Farms receiving the ver...

That is an interesting proposal, which I would like to look at more closely. I have previously ar...

This will tempt my hon. Friend further from the topic of debate, but would a looser common agricu...

Do not be tempted too far, Mr Eustice.

It might be, if we get to that point, but I do not want to be distracted by that now.

There...

The hon. Gentleman has graciously given way. He tempted me in because I was the Minister who over...

I absolutely agree. In fisheries, the developments and techniques on maximum sustainable yield an...

Welcome to the proceedings, Mr Havard.

My hon. Friend did not hear my opening remarks when ...

There are a number of routes that we could pursue to bring this forward. My point is that there i...

Mr Havard, it is good to serve under your stewardship.

I have been watching you.

I am glad. I need watching, Mr Havard. My thanks to your predecessor, who was here until a couple...

It has done a lot of other damage.

Indeed. The hon. Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish) spoke with expertise, as always. H...

I should take this opportunity to thank all the witnesses to the inquiry, something that I omitte...

The hon. Lady raises a strong point and is right. Although co-decision brings more challenges in ...

We will take note of that when we are dealing with the French treaty discussions.

Among progressive reformers, there has long been a focus on delivering a smaller, greener CAP wit...

Not only is there a problem with permanent grass payments, but if we are not careful, farmers wil...

Indeed. That is one of the many unintended consequences of devising a central system, which is wh...

I call Mr David Heath to speak. He got a soundbite in as well.

3.29 pm

In light of the earlier comments by various hon. Members today, does the Minister agree that the ...

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. Mr Havard, we are going to have an embarrassing degree of...

indicated assent.

My hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton will agree with that contention, as I know whe...

What would be helpful is a letter of clarification. Perhaps I am misinterpreting the Government r...

I am happy to give my hon. Friend a letter. Again—I am not trying to avoid the question—there may...

I get the hon. Lady’s point. What we need clarity on—I understand if the Minister cannot give it ...

The hon. Gentleman has grasped that we need to understand from the Commission what will and will ...

To make it simple for the Minister, we want an assurance that he is saying what the outgoing Mini...

There is no change in position. I am simply saying that we certainly want to ensure that people a...

For the record, my understanding is that this discussion has been about Select Committee recommen...

I am grateful to you for setting that out, Mr Havard, but I have to say that anyone who hopes to ...

Eilidh Whitehouse.

I welcome the Minister’s comments. Compliance has been the biggest single issue with the existing...

I apologise to the hon. Lady. It is “Whiteford,” is it not? I got the first bit right but the sec...

It is certainly an awful lot better than the hon. Member for Ogmore’s pronunciation of the hon. L...

Will the Minister return to the point that I raised about the Commission’s impact assessment sugg...

There are all sorts of competing interests. We heard from the hon. Member for Bristol East (Kerry...

I seek the Minister’s graciousness in giving way again only in order to highlight that his answer...

There is, but it must achieve the right objectives, and our concern about some of the proposals i...

Absolutely.

I note what the hon. Gentleman says about flexibility. That is certainly what we are trying to ac...

The Minister makes an interesting point. There are cases in Europe of people wanting to exempt sm...

Precisely so. Time and again people pay lip service to a “very good idea” but somehow it then doe...

I urge the Minister to keep his mind open, because the larger arable farmers would argue that the...

I never close my mind to anything. I am always open to a discussion, but the hon. Gentleman’s pro...

Snuggle up.

I do not know whether it is possible to snuggle up down a phone between Westminster and Edinburgh...

I am not sure where “snuggling” and “cuddling” fit in the lexicon of Hansard.

The Minister should put on record to whom he was snuggling up.

An eminent member of the European Parliament’s agriculture and rural development committee, who I...

Thank you all for an intelligent and informed discussion. I wish the Minister the best of luck wi...