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Modulation Proposals - 18 April 2002 Mr. David Curry (Skipton and Ripon): The Secretary of State is rightly cautious about going down the proposed route. Does she recognise the dangers of erecting a surrogate green CAP, which would be even harder to reform than the present one, as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is a great deal more powerful than the National Farmers Union? Does she recognise that ill-defined public goods and complex schemes requiring intensive manpower and womanpower to monitor and yielding very little to farmers would not represent a significant reform or benefit? If we do go down that route, will she consider requiring farmers to group together to apply for the schemes, perhaps to encourage at last some collective working among British farmers, the absence of which is one of their great problems? Margaret Beckett: The right hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point. I do not think that anyone on the Labour Benches—and probably on the Conservative Benches—would disagree that we must be careful if we are successful in getting reform not to replace the current CAP with a scheme that is equally burdensome and difficult. We all share that point of view. I also take his point about ways in which we might seek to use any change to encourage more co-operation in the farming community—another of the Policy Commission's many recommendations. |
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David Curry MP | House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA | tel: 020 7219 6202 |
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