§ MR. WILLIAMSON (Elgin and Nairn)To ask the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, if the delay in approaching other Powers in connection with Foreign vessels trawling in the Moray Firth arises from the attitude of the English Board of Agriculture and Fisheries; and if the policy of the Scottish Fishery Board and the Irish Board with regard to closing areas against trawling meets with the approval of the English Board.
(Answered by Sir Edward Strachey.) The policy to be adopted in this matter involves international considerations, and must be determined by the Government from the point of view of the United Kingdom as a whole. Communications with respect to it are proceeding as rapidly as possible between the various Departments concerned, but I am not in a position to add anything to the statements recently made by my right hon. friends the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary for Scotland.