There are a number of fundamental things that need to be tackled. I am going to say something that will probably be quite unpopular, but it is a fact: the consumer must be educated to understand that if they want to eat clean, green, traceable local produce, they will have to pay more for it. All sectors of the industry must support that message, educating children, housewives and consumers about the fact that if they want to fill their basket with local produce it will cost more. We should get away from the notion that we can have cheap mass quantities of foodstuffs; we can have cheap mass quantities of food-like stuffs—but not of food. We must be clear about it, but it is difficult to sell that message to the public, especially in times of austerity. However, we need to address it.
Northern Ireland is more reliant on exports than the rest of the UK, so the effect that the milk sector feels is of course much greater. Cheap imports are pressed on us by our neighbour, the Republic of Ireland, which aggressively sells its milk in Northern Ireland but also aggressively opposes the sale of ours in the Republic. The Government should give that strong scrutiny.
I want to leave two matters with the Government for consideration. UKRep should be encouraged to press in the EU for an increased level of intervention to take surplus off the market. If that were done it would be of
considerable help to world prices and local UK prices. The Government must help companies to find new markets. That is easy to say and difficult to achieve, but significant action must be taken, and, as the Chairman of the Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Miss McIntosh), said, pressure must be put on people to buy red tractor-marked goods and local goods. That means aggressive Government encouragement of the sale of those goods; and they can take it right to the line. Many European Community countries break the rules when they sell their local products. I want our Government to bend that line and be as proactive as they can in ensuring that British products are sold to as many British people as possible. The Government could also encourage DairyCo, a statutory body paid for by a farmers’ levy, to do its job, if they gave it more support.
3.24 pm