DAIRY FARMERS OF BRITAIN

That this House is appalled by the collapse of Dairy Farmers of Britain which went into receivership owing £50 million to its 1,800 members; is deeply concerned that the impact on the UK dairy industry and on individual dairy farmers and their families will be devastating; deplores the banks' deliberate timing of the calling in of the loan to Dairy Farmers of Britain, causing the calling in of the receivers to maximise the benefit to secured creditors at the expense of those member farmers' May milk cheques; calls on the Government to underwrite the payments that Dairy Farmers of Britain were due to pay to dairy farmers for milk supplied in May or to force Dairy Farmers of Britain's bankers to pay the May milk cheques; also calls on the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Prime Minister to intervene to ensure that buyers do not exploit stricken dairy farmers by paying sub-market prices; and endorses the Farmers Guardian petition which urges the dairy industry's biggest customers to both buy British and to ensure that dairy farmers receive a fair return for their produce.