Britain's agriculture minister got a rough ride on Tuesday from European lawmakers, some of whom stormed out of a debate in protest at Britain's lack of answers over the future of the bloc's farming budget. Speaking to the European Parliament's agriculture committee at the start of Britain's six-month EU presidency, Margaret Beckett was repeatedly asked about British plans for reforming EU farm spending through to 2013. Beckett said there were no proposals for concrete sectors, Reuters reported. It was her first appearance in the Parliament under Britain's EU presidency, which runs to the end of this year. Britain's government has already called for an overhaul of EU farm spending at some stage over the next 2007-13 budget period. The debate quickly deteriorated as a number of MEPs left the room -- one while Beckett was addressing her directly -- and a number of MEPs said they had never witnessed such scenes. --More 2254 Local Time 1954 GMT
