mr president like all those who have spoken i am aware of the extent of the crisis in our agrarian sector
any member who represents farmers knows that
but the crisis is a product of our existing agricultural system the common agricultural policy which has had calamitous consequences for farmers in my part of the united kingdom
and not only for farmers for our consumers for our taxpayers and indeed for the poor of the third world who find that their markets are denied and that they then have surpluses dumped on them
we were gradually moving in the european union away from the system of direct support that had such deleterious environmental and economic consequences and now we are rushing back in
i can tell you that in the united kingdom people have clear memories of how the milk quota system worked
we were allocated a quota that was less than our national production so we have the extraordinary sight of british farmers using milk as fertiliser or pouring it away down the drain and then having to re-import milk from the netherlands france or other parts of the european union to get up to the level of demand
we were just beginning to get away and now this house has voted to bring it all back
anyone who thinks that the european union is going in the direction of doing less and devolving power need only look at today's vote
