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Curd Cheese (Restriction on Placing on the Market) (England) Regulations 2006

My Lords, it seems utterly unacceptable that dairy producers in our country—who have, according to our own Food Standards Agency, met the strict standards of hygiene and food safety—are forced to face an uncertain future, with the EU determined to overrule decisions made in Great Britain because of the Government’s refusal to stand up for British dairy producers. That is a shocking example of this country’s inability to set its own food standards and run its own food standards operations? Either there was an insoluble problem with Bowland Dairy, in which case it should not have been given a clean bill of health by UK officials, or there was no problem that could not be addressed, in which case the EU had no business butting in to close down a small UK firm. Which is it? Can the Minister help the House? Can he confirm that the Food Standards Agency had cleared Bowland and had found no practices that would have justified such draconian actions before EU officials intervened? Bad practices need to be tested and controlled, but this action has even been condemned by the Liberal Democrat MEP Saj Karim as ““knee-jerk and headstrong””. He said that Bowland was being made a scapegoat and that the Commission was not impartial but had an axe to grind. How often do we hear Liberal Democrats condemning the Commission’s actions? When a Liberal Democrat attacks the EU, something must be very wrong. Does that worry the Minister? Surely you have to be certain that there is no alternative before passing regulations that could bankrupt a small firm and put 22 people out of work. Is the Minister telling the House that there is no alternative and that our Government back EU action to cut Lancashire jobs? If the practices are as bad and uncontrollable as the European Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office claims, why did the UK not support action on Bowland in the Standing Committee vote on 6 October? If they cannot justify the action, why did Britain abstain? It is a spineless attitude from a Government who claim to be a friend of small businesses. Ministers were more fearful of upsetting EU officials than concerned to defend a British firm. In the end, we just sat on the fence, pleasing nobody. Can the Minister confirm that Bowland exported to Ireland, Denmark, Austria, Germany and France? Which, if any, of those countries complained to the UK Government about its products? Do any of those countries have curd cheese industries? Have any complaints been made by the UK Government about cheese products from those countries? How many other curd cheese manufacturers have been closed by EU regulations throughout the Community? Will the Minister share his research on this with the House? In his Written Answer of 7 November, the Minister said that Britain had now advised the Commission of, "““a revised approach to the application of EU hygiene rules in the dairy sector which is in line with that taken by the Commission in the decision””.—[Official Report, 7/11/06; col. WA 120.]" Can the Minister explain what he meant by that? Does it mean what I think it means? That the British Government will simply toe the line in any intervention against a UK firm from now on? Can the Minister assure the House that the ““revised approach”” he talks of will not affect traditional milk or cheese production in this country? Did the department discuss the letter with the industry before announcing absolute compliance? The unfortunate position of Bowland has now led to a much wider threat to British industry. The House will be alarmed to learn that the UK cheese industry—a £5.6 billion sector—now faces what is termed a ““blitz”” by EU inspectors. What other countries face such blitzes? What will the Government do to support and protect our dairy products? I do not often praise Liberal Democrats, but Saj Karim was surely right when he said: "““The commission is playing a dangerous cloak and dagger game with the UK’s … industry””." What are the Government doing to check this cloak-and-dagger game? As the Minister will be aware, the FVO threatened inspections of the dairy industry across Britain in November. What dairies and cheeses have they targeted? Can the Minister report the latest situation to the House? No doubt his own officials are informed and monitoring the threat closely. I hope that the Minister can assure the Housethat there will be no gold-plating by his department. Not long ago, he was defending the regrettable interference of UK agencies as regards traditional Stilton cheese. He said that he would look into that matter further. What has he done about it since then? How has that situation been resolved? In the light of this new threat, can he assure the House that the FVO will not be intervening against Stilton production? The House will be most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Willoughby de Broke, for alerting Parliament to this EU action against one small firm, which our officials had not seen a need to close, and for highlighting a wider emerging threat to our cheese industry. That industry is entitled to expect vigorous defence from its Government. I see little evidence of that in response to the FVO’s blitz on British cheese. I, too, ask many of the questions posed from the Liberal Democrat Benches by the noble Lord, Lord Greaves.