---

World Trade (Doha Development Agenda)

The hon. Gentleman is right—significant progress was made on aid and debt, and I understand that detailed conversations were taking place at the G8 in an attempt to move the trade agenda forward when the terrible atrocities in London interrupted them. Who knows what might have been achieved had they not happened? But more still could have been done. The Prime Minister in particular could have done more to influence other leaders in Europe. The right hon. Member for Gordon was right that the lack of progress is to the detriment of free trade as a whole, which is the main driver for wealth creation, creating jobs and alleviating poverty. We then heard from the hon. Member for City of York (Hugh Bayley), whose remarks, unusually for him, were permeated by an atmosphere of pessimism, although he was right to be pessimistic in this instance. He made some thought-provoking suggestions about reordering the WTO negotiation strategy and not having either everything or nothing, but picking out the beneficial agreements that could be made, on a unilateral basis or otherwise. My hon. Friend the Member for Buckingham (John Bercow) made a typically polished and passionate speech, in which he highlighted the moral case for assisting the poorer and developing nations. He was right to raise the issue of farmers in his constituency. I have discussed the matter with farmers in my constituency, which is very rural. They would like to have a no-subsidy system. They believe that they could compete globally, because of the quality of their products and their expertise. I acknowledge that the quality of the land in Lincolnshire is high, but farmers there would like to move in that direction. I agree with my hon. Friend and shall return to one or two other things that he said later. The right hon. Member for Leeds, West (John Battle) was absolutely right to highlight rising food prices. He will also be aware of the reason for it—some crops have collapsed or not come to fruition, not only in Australia, but in Russia and Ukraine, which has affected wheat prices particularly. However, there is another side to the issue. He was right to highlight the impact that such rises will have on the poor, but they also have a beneficial effect for the farmers in the United Kingdom. Farmers in my constituency are delighted that at last there is an increase in food prices and that for the first time in many years they may actually make a profit; so, there are two sides to that complex coin.