Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Bone Excerpts

Thursday 6th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

I shall be delighted to answer the right hon. Gentleman’s question about the cider industry. My hon. Friend the Minister of State has been told that he cannot speak on the issue because of the preponderance of cider farmers in his constituency, but I can assure the right hon. Gentleman that we are working on the issue with the Department of Health and the Home Office. We will raise with those Departments any instances in which the measure would have a pernicious effect on the rural community, and exceptions may be forthcoming.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State press the European Union harder to open its markets to developing countries, especially in relation to the common agricultural policy?

[Mr Paterson]

As my hon. Friend knows, I am in favour of free trade in all products, because opening up markets gives real opportunity to our own farmers who want to export in the other direction.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sir Tony Baldry]

I entirely agree. Everyone in the Church of England needs to understand that, so far as Parliament and the wider community are concerned, this issue is increasingly seen as the Church of England discriminating against women. That is fundamentally wrong and fundamentally bad for the image and work of the Church.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that we must tread with extreme caution in trying to tell the Church of England how to run its own affairs? It is nearly 100 years since this Parliament has interfered with the Church’s affairs—

[Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)]

Rubbish! Nonsense!

[Mr Bone]

Although Members are entitled to hold very strong opinions, would my hon. Friend reflect that it is really up to the Church of England to sort this out?

[Sir Tony Baldry]

I do not think that anyone is telling the Church of England what to do. I have a very privileged position in this House; I think I am the only person other than Ministers who has the right to answer questions—[Interruption.] Apart from my hon. Friend the Member for South West Devon (Mr Streeter), of course. I do apologise. Very few of us have the right to answer questions. There are 26 bishops—24 bishops and two archbishops—in the House of Lords as a benefit of Establishment. Those are privileges and this House is therefore entitled to give good advice to the Church of England on how the Church should be run if it is to continue to have those privileges.

Flooding

Peter Bone Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paterson]

My hon. Friend makes a good point. Rivers do not respect political boundaries. We are keeping in touch with all Ministries and Government agencies.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

I thank the Secretary of State for coming to the House and informing us in such detail of what is happening and what he has been doing over the past few days. Flooding is occurring on the embankment in Wellingborough. Northamptonshire’s fire brigade and local councils are doing an excellent job. Like other Members, I ask the Secretary of State to look again at the issue of building on the floodplain, because regional spatial strategies forced councils to have residential homes in areas where they opposed them.

[Mr Paterson]

I went very close to my hon. Friend’s patch on Friday and saw the scheme that worked incredibly effectively in protecting Northampton town. The Nene was tamed. He rightly says that the huge wet area was saturated. I saw a permanent caravan site that had been badly flooded and a large number of people had been evacuated. I pay tribute to all the agencies in his area that I met: the Environment Agency, the police, the fire service and the local council. He is right that it is completely barmy to build on floodplains. I want to drill it in to everyone who is listening that the NPPF makes it very clear that that is a bad idea and that it should not happen.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Bone Excerpts

Thursday 1st March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Tony Baldry]

I very much welcome the initiative taken by DEFRA Ministers. At the meeting I mentioned, the Minister made it very clear that he thought it was unacceptable that churches could not be used for public worship as a consequence of infestation by bats. He made it very clear to officials in his Department and officials from Natural England that he was looking to them to come forward with solutions in respect of the worst-affected churches and to report back by the autumn of this year.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

8. What recent representations he has received on the implications for the Church Commissioners of the Government’s plans to introduce same-sex marriage.

[Tony Baldry]

The Church of England will be making a detailed submission to the forthcoming consultation exercise, which will provide an opportunity for a more focused critique of what is proposed, including the proposal to distinguish in law between civil and religious marriage.

[Mr Bone]

I am very grateful for my hon. Friend’s response. Would it not be very simple just to write back and say, “Marriage is between a man and a woman so this is completely nuts”?

[Tony Baldry]

I am quite relieved by that question because I feared that we might have a question about Mrs Bone and, assuming that Mr and Mrs Bone are already married, I was not quite sure how I was going to deal with that. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. So far as the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church and many other faith groups are concerned, marriage is a union between one man and one woman. That is a point that we will be putting forward, I hope, responsibly and clearly in the consultation.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Bone Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2012 Commons Chamber

The hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, was asked—

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

3. What the (a) income and (b) expenditure was of the Electoral Commission in the last year.

[Mr Gary Streeter (South West Devon)]

The Electoral Commission’s audited report and accounts for the last financial year showed a net operating expenditure of £21.6 million and capital expenditure of £1.6 million. All expenditure was financed by income from the Consolidated Fund. The commission also received income of £148,000 from political parties, arising from registration fees and penalties for failure to comply with the rules on party and election finance.

[Mr Bone]

I am grateful for that reply in which we heard that £21 million is being spent. Does the Electoral Commission really need seven executives earning at a rate of more than £90,000 a year? Should there not be some cutbacks there?

[Mr Streeter]

My hon. Friend will be pleased to know that the Electoral Commission will be reducing its core costs by 30% between now and 2014-15. The Speaker’s Committee takes this issue extremely seriously, and it is delighted that the Electoral Commission has come forward with a number of cost-saving measures. It is determined to deliver them and it will deliver them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Bone Excerpts

Thursday 24th November 2011 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

What recent steps she has taken on reform of the common agricultural policy.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman)]

Having just heard the writ being moved, I am sure it would be the right thing to do to express our condolences to Alan Keen’s wife, Ann, whom we all remember, on behalf of the whole House.

The Government have commenced negotiations on the CAP reform proposals, which the Commission published on 12 October and which, for the first time, require the co-decision of the European Parliament. I recently met Agriculture Commissioner Ciolos, together with the Agriculture Ministers for the devolved Administrations, to ensure that all parts of the United Kingdom are taken into account.

[Mr Bone]

Our net contribution to the European Union in the last five years of the Labour Government was £19 billion, and in the next five years of this coalition Government it will be £41 billion—an increase of 116%, because Tony Blair gave away Mrs Thatcher’s EU rebate. At the time, he said that our net contribution would not increase because the European Union had promised massive reform of the CAP. Who was lying, Tony Blair or the European Union?

[Mrs Spelman]

That is precisely why the UK Government have expressed their disappointment that the proposed CAP reforms lack ambition. Although the commissioner correctly identifies food security and climate change as the two key challenges that agriculture faces, I regret that the proposals do not really address the great challenge. Therefore, we will seek to improve them to get the best possible outcome for taxpayers, consumers and farmers alike.

Common Fisheries Policy

Peter Bone Excerpts

Thursday 14th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Richard Benyon]

There has been no word of decommissioning per se in the document, but I recognise that it might be required in some areas by some fishing communities as a possible way forward. At this stage, I cannot promise any money from the UK Government or suggest that it could be forthcoming from the EU, but I assure the hon. Gentleman that when we talk about localised, regionalised or devolved management, I want to see much more involvement from fishermen in communities such as his. I want this to be addressed on a sea-basin basis, with consideration of where fishermen are fishing. The regional advisory councils have been a very good model for this and I believe that is the way forward.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

It is hard to believe that the Minister believes the twaddle he has been talking today. The common fisheries policy has been an unmitigated disaster and the British people want to come out of the European Union—would not that be the simple solution?

[Richard Benyon]

That is not really on the subject and is slightly above my pay grade, but I agree that the common fisheries policy has been an unmitigated disaster.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Bone Excerpts

Thursday 17th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Paice]

The Government strongly believe that consumers should be properly informed about what they are buying. It is also true that the Government believe, overall, that animals should be stunned before slaughter, but we recognise that the Jewish and Muslim communities like some of their meat to be produced differently. The challenge for labelling is traceability. As my hon. Friend is probably aware, the vast majority of meat slaughtered under halal conditions is pre-stunned, so the issue is not quite as straightforward as some people believe.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

14. What responsibilities she has for the Government’s policies on climate change.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mrs Caroline Spelman)]

DEFRA leads on climate change adaptation in England and on engagement with the EU on adaptation. DEFRA works to reduce emissions domestically in the areas for which we have responsibility and also works across Whitehall to ensure that progress on mitigation is achieved in a sustainable way.

[Mr Bone]

The Prime Minister is keen on smaller and more efficient government. If the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills were to take back responsibility for energy, would the Secretary of State think it appropriate for her Department to take back the rest of the climate change responsibilities, because then we could get rid of a whole Department?

[Mrs Spelman]

If we are talking about efficiency, I can tell my hon. Friend that in my experience, reorganisation—including the attempted reorganisation of local government by the last Administration—is not always the most efficient thing to do.

Sustainable Livestock Bill

Peter Bone Excerpts

Friday 12th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Jacob Rees-Mogg]

I was talking about subsidies and how we cannot do what the Bill says because the French will not let us. They will take to the streets if we try to attack subsidies across the European spectrum. People in this country—Ministers and even Prime Ministers, with all the authority that Prime Ministers have—have not been able to wean the French off their subsidies. We may share a Navy with them, but we find it difficult to share subsidies so easily.

The Minister will also have a duty to look at

“the effectiveness of existing programmes”.

If he is not already looking at their effectiveness, he is an idler and should not be in his job. I know that the Minister is far from being an idler; he is well known for being one of the most assiduous Ministers in Her Majesty’s Government, and he is the friend of the farmers. He will, therefore, be doing that already, so we are back to a grand and jolly wish-list of nice-to-do things.

Let us review subsections (1) and (2) of clause 1, headed “Duties of the Secretary of State”, as if they were not a wish list, because that is the frightening alternative. If we are talking about measures that are grand and good and fine and dandy, this should not be a Bill, but if it is real and costed and expensive and a burden on farmers, we should oppose it as a Bill, because it would be ruinous for our agriculture.

Our farmers have had a terribly difficult time in recent years. The subsidy system has changed, and they have been hit by various disasters—none of them the fault of Governments, particularly, but disasters none the less. Tuberculosis in cattle has devastated dairy farming in North East Somerset. Where there used to be field after field of cattle, they have gone. The farmers have gone out of business. Where there were 10 dairy farmers, there is now one, or, if we are lucky, two. That is partly TB, partly foot and mouth, partly milk quotas and partly regulation.

Are we now to say to the few farmers who have continued—who have striven and worked hard—that all their effort is in vain because though they were scourged with whips before, now they will be scourged with scorpions? Perhaps the Bill should be renamed the Scorpions Bill for that purpose. If it is serious in its purpose and purport, it would be very bad for our farmers. It would place extra rules on them, and would make their practices subject to a higher standard of rules than applies to others.

I have already mentioned the chicken farmer in North East Somerset, in Burnett, and that fine family who attend to their chickens there. They are out-competed, day in, day out, by Thai production. Hon. Members may think that Thai eggs are not really what they want. They may feel that Thai chicken is not their cup of tea. It is not mine, certainly; it tends to be a bit spicy. We do not want to place further regulations on farmers in North East Somerset, Ulster, Scotland, Wales or the whole of the rest of England, or even Gloucestershire. We do not want to attach regulations to our farmers that will put them out of business. That would do nothing but help foreign farmers, particularly our European friends and sometimes allies.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

Outrageous.

[Jacob Rees-Mogg]

I appreciate that sedentary comment of outrage from my hon. Friend. That is one of the issues, if the Bill is real. It applies also to increasingly onerous tests on food labelling. We already have bonkers food labelling regulations from the European Union. For example, if one buys a Parma ham and chops it up in Westminster, one cannot then sell it as Parma ham. The EU is so protective about food labelling for its friends that there are very limited things one can do. We do not have a system that is very onerous for our farmers, and nor should it be. We need to have a sensible balance that keeps farmers in business, and does not over-regulate them and destroy their livelihood.

If we are really going to change the subsidies, we must do so fairly. I was once a candidate for the seat of The Wrekin in Shropshire, where there was a sugar processing plant. The French decided, when they held the presidency of the European Union, that they would change the subsidies for sugar beet production. They abandoned that as soon as their presidency ended, perhaps not surprisingly. People made long-term investment decisions on the basis of that subsidy. It is therefore very unfair if the Government turn around and say that the subsidy we give you today and promise will be there for ever is gone tomorrow, because businesses cannot then invest.

I am against subsidies in principle. We want get to free trade in agriculture. That is a tremendously important ambition, but we have to do it in a staged process. Like alcoholics whom one cannot necessarily wean off the bottle straight away, one cannot wean industry off subsidies overnight. Industry expects those subsidies for the investment decisions that they make, reasonably and rationally, and it is tremendously important that long-term decisions are made.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Bone Excerpts

Thursday 9th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Richard Benyon)]

I met the secretary-general of the IWC in Agadir and raised those points clearly with him, as we will continue to do. I was as alarmed as he was by the articles in The Sunday Times, and I remain absolutely convinced that, if the IWC is to have credibility, it has to sort out its governance problems.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

T3. The EU Budget Commissioner wants to abolish the UK’s rebate, for which Mrs Thatcher fought so hard, on the grounds that farm payments have fallen as a percentage of the overall budget. If that happens, it will cost the United Kingdom £5 billion a year. Does the Minister have any advice for the EU Commissioner?

[Mrs Spelman]

I have a very clear view for the EU Commissioner, which was articulated by the Chancellor this week: the rebate remains fully justified, given the distortions in the EU budget. This is a matter of fairness for us, as the UK has the lowest per capita receipts. As 43% of the EU budget is spent on agriculture, our quest is also to seek genuine and ambitious reform of the common agricultural policy that will deliver good value for farmers, taxpayers, consumers and the environment alike.