Agriculture

Part of Civil Estimates, 1956–57 – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 30 April 1956.

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Photo of Mr Percy Wells Mr Percy Wells , Faversham 12:00, 30 April 1956

The Minister will appreciate that we on this side of the House at least had to work from the White Paper, and the figures that he has given us this afternoon were not available to us.

I was rather surprised that the Minister had almost nothing to say about the credit squeeze and the increased Bank Rate. My information is that that is in no small measure responsible for the fall in the tillage which is referred to in the White Paper. I am quite certain that the Minister does not appreciate how serious that aspect is, or he would not treat it so lightly as he has done. The position of many small farmers is extremely serious. I understand that farmers owe their merchants and suppliers about £200 million, and they owe the banks a similar amount, much of which, of course, could be called in at very short notice—which is what they fear will happen—so that the complexion of the industry could be changed very quickly indeed.

One constituent of mine told me that he had a very unfortunate interview with his bank manager as a result of the credit squeeze.