Cull Programme And Cheshire Farmers

EDM number 896 in 1995-96, proposed by Nicholas Winterton on 16/05/1996.

That this House whilst deploring the unnecessary, illogical and illegal ban on British beef imposed by the European Union, nevertheless welcomes the constructive steps which Her Majesty's Government has taken to restore rationality in these matters and confidence in British beef; notes, however, that under the arrangements for the cull programme only one abattoir in Cheshire, Beesons of Crewe, will be involved and that this will be limited to a throughput of 100 carcasses per day; notes that this throughput could immediately be increased to around 200 carcasses per day if additional rendering capacity were allocated for the output of this facility, but deeply regrets that the massive capacity of the major renderer in Cheshire, PDM of Widnes, is being utilised to process some 3,000 carcasses daily from abattoirs in Wales and elsewhere in the United Kingdom; deeply regrets this blatantly unfair treatment of Cheshire farmers who find themselves unable to use facilities in their own county to process stock for which they are now bearing unsustainably high maintenance costs; and urges the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food immediately to investigate this matter and to produce a more equitable arrangement.

This motion has been signed by a total of 2 MPs.