E.E.C. plan to axe milkmen angers British

Press, 1 May 1978, Page 21

E.E.C. plan to axe milkmen angers British

From

JOHN ROSS

in Lon-

don In Britain, a gallon of milk, at $l.BO, costs more than a gallon of petrol, at $1.33 which is reason enough for the present wave of horror at suggestions that the Brussels bureaucrats want to increase the price of milk further.

Europe’s determination to do away with Britain's daily doorstep “pinta” has resulted in another bout of anti-Brussels belligerence.

Every morning, thousands of milkmen in little, battery-driven vans put 37M pints of milk in Britain’s doorsteps. It may well be a quaint British custom, but it is one they intend to maintain, no matter how much it is resented by the rest of the Common (Market.

What Europe objects to is the Milk Marketing Board, which controls the production, buying, and delivery’ of milk. It is a monopoly and the Common Market does not like monopolies, particularly ones which are as efficient as the M.M.B.

In the rest of Europe, housewives have to buy their milk at the supermarket. What the Common Market would like to see is a take-over of Britain’s milk marketing by provate enterprise, which would push prices up and allow European dairy products to compete more equitably with Britain’s. If that happened, the price of a pint would rise, sales would drop, 50,000

milkmen would lose their jobs, and the British housewife would have to trudge to the supermarket like her European counterparts. Britons are becoming increasingly outspoken over what they see as attempts by Europe to introduce uniformity for its own sake in every sector of society. For many of them, the milk issue is the last straw.

One national newspaper columnist has suggested a programme of retaliation by Britain against some of Europe’s more agreeable customs.

The fresh, warm bread provided from dawn to dusk by French Bakers, the mountains of spaghetti consumed by Italians, the delicious potato chips cooked by the Belgians, the wholesale slaughter of pigs by the Danes, and the unsightly sausages eaten by the Germans should, be suggested, all be outlawed. “If they will leave our milkman alone, or start milk deliveries of their etaoinsh rd luccmf wy pxzfiflff eetaoeetashrdfwyvbgkqhrdllq own, we might be prepared to overlook the perverse ways in which they enjoy themselves,” he said.

“If not, we should go on the attack. There is a rumour, never officially denied, that the French eat frogs and snails.

“It cannot be allowed to go on. Nothing is allowed to go on when it is pleasant, tasty, and familiar. It is against the rules,” said the columnist.