We should be grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for giving us this debate, although the fishing debates before previous December Fisheries Council meetings were always three-hour debates on the Floor of the House. I commend to the Minister the idea of going back to that. Rather than exhausting Back-Bench...

We should be grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for giving us this debate, although the fishing debates before previous December Fisheries Council meetings were always three-hour debates on the Floor of the House. I commend to the Minister the idea of going back to that. Rather than exhausting Back-Bench...

Absolutely. I assume the Minister to be superhuman, and that should be a central point of our negotiations. The intrusion of the European Parliament into co-decision making will make it much more difficult, because there will be all sorts of extraneous interests. It will be interesting to hear the views...

Absolutely. I assume the Minister to be superhuman, and that should be a central point of our negotiations. The intrusion of the European Parliament into co-decision making will make it much more difficult, because there will be all sorts of extraneous interests. It will be interesting to hear the views...

I agree with the hon. Gentleman—that is what we have to do and what we could operate regionally if we got the powers to do so. That is the way that we have to go, but if co-decision making is handed to the European Parliament, politics will be involved again....

I agree with the hon. Gentleman—that is what we have to do and what we could operate regionally if we got the powers to do so. That is the way that we have to go, but if co-decision making is handed to the European Parliament, politics will be involved again....

It is certainly the way forward, as I shall argue. We need the 10-year approach and the regional basis that the hon. Gentleman suggests. We probably have to accept that the Commission will set the standards and objectives up there in the stratosphere in Brussels, but we must hand management—including...

It is certainly the way forward, as I shall argue. We need the 10-year approach and the regional basis that the hon. Gentleman suggests. We probably have to accept that the Commission will set the standards and objectives up there in the stratosphere in Brussels, but we must hand management—including...

I do not want to get into Liberal by-paths on this issue. Just because I get up and speak the European truth does not allow the Liberal party to interfere with my speech as it interferes with the Government's policy. Having asserted the position and said what I would like...

I do not want to get into Liberal by-paths on this issue. Just because I get up and speak the European truth does not allow the Liberal party to interfere with my speech as it interferes with the Government's policy. Having asserted the position and said what I would like...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South East Cornwall (Sheryll Murray), with whom I agree almost totally. We should express our gratitude to the Backbench Business Committee for allowing this debate, and to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee for its excellent report. It is...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for South East Cornwall (Sheryll Murray), with whom I agree almost totally. We should express our gratitude to the Backbench Business Committee for allowing this debate, and to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee for its excellent report. It is...

The hon. Gentleman will have the opportunity to make his own speech—or discard it, as the case may be—and I shall come to that point in a moment. The second failure in the Commission's proposals is the failure to deal with over-capacity. They say that decommissioning has failed to reduce...

The hon. Gentleman will have the opportunity to make his own speech—or discard it, as the case may be—and I shall come to that point in a moment. The second failure in the Commission's proposals is the failure to deal with over-capacity. They say that decommissioning has failed to reduce...

I have always thought that the best possible way to reform the common fisheries policy was to come out altogether. Before the previous election that was Conservative party policy and I was sorry to see it changed, although it is still a policy to which the Government are attached. They...

I have always thought that the best possible way to reform the common fisheries policy was to come out altogether. Before the previous election that was Conservative party policy and I was sorry to see it changed, although it is still a policy to which the Government are attached. They...

May I express my resentment that this major fishing debate, which is important to all of us and brings together the best and the brightest Members of Parliament—that is to say, the fishermen of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, plus a line fisherman from Reading-super-Mare—to discuss the issues of fishing...

May I express my resentment that this major fishing debate, which is important to all of us and brings together the best and the brightest Members of Parliament—that is to say, the fishermen of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, plus a line fisherman from Reading-super-Mare—to discuss the issues of fishing...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I did not give way at first as I expected to hear an interjection in a Scottish accent, so I was somewhat confused geographically. He is absolutely right that the industry has been conscientious in developing that sort of area measure, with which,...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I did not give way at first as I expected to hear an interjection in a Scottish accent, so I was somewhat confused geographically. He is absolutely right that the industry has been conscientious in developing that sort of area measure, with which,...

I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to Dolly Hardie, who was a wonderful fighter for the fishermen of Grimsby. There will be a great gap in the new Minister's life, because he will not receive letters from Dolly Hardie telling him how to run his Department, how to...

I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to Dolly Hardie, who was a wonderful fighter for the fishermen of Grimsby. There will be a great gap in the new Minister's life, because he will not receive letters from Dolly Hardie telling him how to run his Department, how to...

It is good to see what has happened in Scotland, where closures were approved by the authorities—another development that we should encourage.

It is good to see what has happened in Scotland, where closures were approved by the authorities—another development that we should encourage.

Feelings about the common fisheries policy ran high and hostile in the 1970s. They have attenuated somewhat since then, but the feeling is kept alive and fishermen know, if other people do not, the cause of the problem. It is impossible for a small group of bureaucrats in Brussels to...

Feelings about the common fisheries policy ran high and hostile in the 1970s. They have attenuated somewhat since then, but the feeling is kept alive and fishermen know, if other people do not, the cause of the problem. It is impossible for a small group of bureaucrats in Brussels to...

That is correct. That can also be the case for the Fisheries Commissioner, but fortunately Commissioner Borg comes from an island. He therefore has some knowledge of fishing and has been effective in that role, but that is not always the case. The problem is that we need regulation that...

That is correct. That can also be the case for the Fisheries Commissioner, but fortunately Commissioner Borg comes from an island. He therefore has some knowledge of fishing and has been effective in that role, but that is not always the case. The problem is that we need regulation that...

I welcome the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies), to his new post, in which I am sure he will be very successful. This debate is the annual celebration of the fishing MPs. We look forward to it...

I welcome the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies), to his new post, in which I am sure he will be very successful. This debate is the annual celebration of the fishing MPs. We look forward to it...

I congratulate the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) on securing the debate on a very important subject, at an important time. The small but, as anyone present can see, very select band of fishing-motivated Members of Parliament here for the debate have seen the industry go through...

I congratulate the right hon. Member for Berwick-upon-Tweed (Sir Alan Beith) on securing the debate on a very important subject, at an important time. The small but, as anyone present can see, very select band of fishing-motivated Members of Parliament here for the debate have seen the industry go through...

The fear, certainly in Grimsby, is that in the process of decommissioning—unfortunately, some Grimsby owners want to decommission, because the industry is not profitable—preference will be given to the south-west, especially the beam trawlers, which are heavy users of fuel. The problems of the whole nation, and particularly of Grimsby,...

The fear, certainly in Grimsby, is that in the process of decommissioning—unfortunately, some Grimsby owners want to decommission, because the industry is not profitable—preference will be given to the south-west, especially the beam trawlers, which are heavy users of fuel. The problems of the whole nation, and particularly of Grimsby,...

May I begin by joining criticism of the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr. Paterson) for his unwarranted and unfair attack on Lawrie Quinn? As chairman of the all-party fisheries group, I can testify that Lawrie Quinn worked long and hard for the cause of fishing, particularly in his constituency....

May I begin by joining criticism of the hon. Member for North Shropshire (Mr. Paterson) for his unwarranted and unfair attack on Lawrie Quinn? As chairman of the all-party fisheries group, I can testify that Lawrie Quinn worked long and hard for the cause of fishing, particularly in his constituency....

Expendable. That was disgraceful, but it was accepted by the late Sir Edward Heath in his passionate desire to get into Europe. We got a worse deal than was justified. We made the biggest sacrifice. We have had the biggest loss of catches, and the total amount of fish taken...

Expendable. That was disgraceful, but it was accepted by the late Sir Edward Heath in his passionate desire to get into Europe. We got a worse deal than was justified. We made the biggest sacrifice. We have had the biggest loss of catches, and the total amount of fish taken...

I did not intend to reach Grimsby via a detour to Northern Ireland, but I agree. The problem for fishing communities such as mine and other communities in Northern Ireland and Scotland is that if the cuts go on, the critical mass of the industry will be insufficient to support...

I did not intend to reach Grimsby via a detour to Northern Ireland, but I agree. The problem for fishing communities such as mine and other communities in Northern Ireland and Scotland is that if the cuts go on, the critical mass of the industry will be insufficient to support...