Mr Peter Mills: Can the hon. Gentleman tell me how many people have actually moved out of the council's smallholdings? What is the percentage? It is not a stepping stone, or a ladder. They stay there and do not move on to other farms. What the hon. Gentleman says is not correct.
Mr Peter Mills: I am grateful for this opportunity to discuss the problems experienced in the south-west of England. I am glad that so many of my right hon. and hon. Friends as well as Opposition Members are present to take part in this debate. I am also pleased to see that the Secretary of State for the Environment, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bridgwater (Mr. King), is here to reply to this regional...
Mr Peter Mills: I agree with what my hon. Friend has said, and he has expressed it far better than I did. That is the point, and this is the problem, with which we hope that the Minister will be able to help us. These elderly people are not a problem to us, in the sense that we welcome them in the south-west, but their presence there is expensive and we have to have sufficient funds to deal with this. There...
Mr Peter Mills: Perhaps I can help. The way forward is to form a co-operative to deal with drainage, as a result of which grants may be available to deal with the problems in the right hon. Gentleman's constituency.
Mr Peter Mills: Is my right hon. Friend aware that some of us in the south-west are very glad that he is continuing the regional aid policy? From experience, we know that it has been of tremendous benefit. Is he further aware that we welcome the extension into the service industry? Will he make it clear that he will hold the widest consultations about what needs to be done, as experience on the ground in the...
Mr Peter Mills: Will my right hon. Friend have a chat with the chairman of the Manpower Services Commission about finance for some of these programmes and remind him that it is extremely embarrassing for Members of Parliament to go round promoting these schemes, only to find that the money is not available? To say the least, I am very annoyed.
Mr Peter Mills: What about the coal miners?
Mr Peter Mills: Is the hon. Lady suggesting that British cereal farmers should return to the old methods of harvesting, and that coal miners should go back to the pick and shovel?
Mr Peter Mills: Before my right hon. Friend leaves the subject of surpluses, will he confirm that there will be no special concessions to any country that is producing a surplus and that whatever agreement is finally reached will be fair to this country?
Mr Peter Mills: The hon. Gentleman has put his finger on the problem and on the key to the future of much of the Commonwealth. How can we convince the people on the ground that this is not just another Western idea, but is for their benefit?
Mr Peter Mills: Does my hon. Friend agree that that would be a retrograde step and that the butter industry can stand on its own feet? Will he proclaim the virtues of butter against some margarines which are made from dubious animal fats?
Mr Peter Mills: I must declare an interest, in that three huge milk plants are located in my constituency—Express Dairies, the Milk Marketing Board and Ambrosia. To say the least, one is concerned about these regulations. The Government have been placed in a difficult situation following the European Court case of 8 February. However, no hon. Member has acknowledged that the Government have kept out this...
Mr Peter Mills: Well, not very strongly. It must also be remembered that the president of the NFU has said that we must accept these regulations and that it would be unwise if we were to change course now. Although the Opposition Front Bench made it quite clear that we should accept the ruling of the European Court, other hon. Members, including some of my hon. Friends, have said that they do not. I remind...
Mr Peter Mills: I was coming to that. We have evidence that there has been a problem when there has been a suspicion of foot and mouth in this country. We also need to study carefully the problem of chlostridium botulinum. I have received an excellent brief from the Milk Marketing Board in Northern Ireland. That country produces excellent milk. Indeed, I have a soft spot for Northern Ireland, as I was once...
Mr Peter Mills: asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what measures he is proposing to ease the problems for early leavers in occupational pension schemes.
Mr Peter Mills: Does my right hon. Friend agree that this problem has a severe effect on employees and does not help flexibility of employment or the economy? I know that he has made progress, but will he redouble his efforts to further this cause which is so important to employees?
Mr Peter Mills: Although I do not disagree with some of the things that the hon. Gentleman says, will he explain why, especially in my area, despite the many youth training schemes, only 40 young people applied to take part when there were more than 400 vacancies? Is this because of the parents, the children or the Government?
Mr Peter Mills: Withdraw.
Mr Peter Mills: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, but I am sorry that the hon. Gentleman, who is a farmer as well, does not understand what a beneficial practice this is at peak periods.
Mr Peter Mills: I declare an interest as a farmer. Recently I have not bought sheep because I have turned almost completely to arable farming, but I used to buy many punch sheep and sell them later. It was profitable. I am somewhat worried about the order and about what the Minister said, simply because we in the south-west of England, particularly in Devonshire, are great producers of mutton and lamb, at...