HL Deb 30 March 1981 vol 419 cc22-6

3.48 p.m.

The Minister of State, Scottish Office (The Earl of Mansfield)

My Lords, with the permission of the House, I will repeat a Statement being made by my right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in another place. The Statement reads as follows:

"With permission, Mr, Speaker, I wish to make a Statement about the EEC Council of Fisheries Ministers on 27th March, which was attended by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland, my honourable friend the Minister of State in my department, and myself.

"As the House will know, this meeting was called following the discussions on fish at the European Council at the beginning of last week. However, it quickly became apparent that one delegation was not able to negotiate on the crucial question of access and that therefore there was no possibility of agreement on a comprehensive, revised common fisheries policy. In these circumstances, the president decided that it would be wrong to prolong the meeting, which ended shortly after lunch. Ministers from all member countries committed their Governments to make every endeavour to reach overall agreement this spring, and invited the presidency to reconvene the Council as soon as the necessary preparations allow.

"The Government consider that it is vital to retain the strength of the British fishing industry. It will be known that for this purpose during the past year the Government have already provided £37 million worth of aid to the industry, and it was originally envisaged that this aid was for the period ending on 31st March.

"The House will know that the Government made the decision to bring forward the review of the financial position of the industry, and the results of this review show quite clearly that markets are weak and increasing costs and continuing uncertainty are hitting the fleet hard.

"The Government have therefore decided to make further aid available to the industry to help it through the continuing uncertainty and difficulty. £25 million will be made available for distribution through a scheme on broadly similar lines to the fishing vessel temporary support scheme introduced last August.

"By taking this action, the Government will therefore again have confirmed their determination to see that the British fishing industry continues to make an important contribution to our economy and continues in readiness for taking full advantage of a common fishing policy when negotiations are completed".

My Lords, that concludes the Statement.

Lord Peart

My Lords, the whole House will basically support what the Government have sought to do in Brussels. I know of the difficulties that arise there, but I believe that our Minister, though his political point of view is different from mine, has tried very hard, and I am certain that at some time we shall achieve success. Unfortunately not all Governments act in the same way, and during discussions at the European Council meeting last week it quickly became apparent, as the Minister said, that one delegation was not able to negotiate on the question of access. I assume that that was the French delegation. Of course, we must recognise that they face problems, but I believe that our stance has been right, and I hope that we shall be able this spring to secure an agreement on a common policy. There has been much controversy in the press regarding this matter, and I hope that we can achieve success. I think that the president was quite right in deciding that it would be wrong to prolong the meeting, which ended shortly after lunch. I know what negotiations are like in Europe, even though I never undertook any fisheries negotiations, despite being a fisheries Minister. I believe that Ministers from all member countries committed their Governments to make every endeavour to reach overall agreement this spring.

It is important that we have a common fisheries policy. I am glad that the Government have stressed the fact that it is vital to retain the strength of the fishing industry until such time as they are able to take full advantage of a common fisheries policy. Some of these very important matters could be raised in the Bill that we are to debate tomorrow.

I am grateful for what the Government have done; they have done well for the industry. They have already provided £37 million worth of aid to the industry; it was originally estimated that the aid was for the period ending on 31st March. Again, £25 million will be made available for distribution through a scheme on broadly similar lines to the fishing vessel temporary support scheme, which was introduced last August. I think that this will be welcomed by the industry. I believe that in taking this action the Government will have confirmed their determination to ensure that the British fishing industry continues to make an important contribution to our economy. This is not a party matter. I strongly support the Minister on this issue, and hope that after a further meeting at some later stage we shall go on from success to success.

3.53 p.m.

Viscount Thurso

My Lords, on behalf of my colleagues on these Benches I should like to thank the Minister for the Statement he has repeated. We support the Government in the stand that they are taking for the British fishing industry. We urge them to continue to seek a proper comprehensive policy for the EEC on fisheries and to ensure that that policy provides for the proper conservation of our fish stocks within our own waters and ensures that the fishing industry continues as one of the great industries of this country. We welcome the fact that the Government are to give aid to our hard-pressed fishing industry. We hope that the aid might also contain a measure of protection against the dumping of cheap fish within our markets. On these Benches we notice that that point has not been mentioned in this context, and perhaps the Minister would care to say a word or two on it. However, we certainly support the stand that has been taken, and we sympathise with the Government in the difficulties which obviously they have been experiencing.

The Earl of Mansfield

My Lords, I should like to thank the noble Lord and the noble Viscount for their support of the Government's stance on the negotiations for a common fisheries policy. It is of no little comfort to my right honourable friend when he goes to Brussels or Luxembourg month after month to know that broadly speaking there is a united front so far as the United Kingdom is concerned. I must also thank the noble Lord and the noble Viscount for their welcome of the very large injection of cash into the industry. Not for one moment do I say that the injection of cash is other than thoroughly deserved, but it is a large amount of money, and we hope that it will continue to keep the fishing industry in a position where it will be able to take advantage of a common fisheries policy when negotiations are completed.

In reply to the noble Viscount, Lord Thurso, on the point about imports, I would say that one must take this in two stages. With regard to imports into the United Kingdom under the reference price, we have for some time been pressing the Commission to take action, and indeed it has prepared a regulation prohibiting imports into the United Kingdom under the reference price. While no decision has yet been taken on this question, we shall continue to press the matter.

With regard to illegal and unfair imports, as the noble Viscount might be aware, my right honourable friend has set up a small team, consisting of representatives from the catchers' organisations and officials, which is inquiring into these matters. I can tell the noble Viscount that it is making good progress and it hopes shortly to complete its work and report to Ministers.

Baroness Gaitskell

My Lords, mention has been made of cheap fish dumped in this country, but any housewife will testify that we cannot get cheap fish anywhere, whether it be clumped or not dumped.

The Earl of Mansfield

My Lords, with respect to the noble Baroness, the question of the price of fish on the slab is rather outside the content of the Statement that I have repeated.

Lord Davies of Leek

My Lords, I should like to ask the noble Earl how the aid is being distributed to the men who go out to win our food and who sometimes pay with their lives. What help will the smallest enterprises receive, and how will the vessels be subsidised? In asking these questions I am not criticising; I think that the Government have done a good job of work here.

The Earl of Mansfield

My Lords, the aid will be distributed on lines broadly similar to those in what is known as the fishing vessel temporary support scheme, which we introduced last summer. I can tell the noble Lord, very briefly, that a cash sum will be paid for each vessel that can be shown to have been fishing on a regular basis. The cash sum is determined approximately by the length of the vessel in the water. Though the scheme is slightly arbitrary, it has commended itself to us as being the fairest that can be devised, but, above all, it is easy to administer, quick to pay out, and seems to be effective in getting the money as quickly as possible out of the hands of the Treasury into the pockets of the fishermen.

Baroness Hornsby-Smith

My Lords, I should like to join in welcoming the Statement repeated by my noble friend, and indeed the stand that has been taken by his right honourable friend the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. I also have in mind those Members of the European Parliament who represent fishing constituencies and who have been battling very hard in support of our claims. May I take it that the grants are a measure of the Government's determination to ensure that we really can sustain an adequate fishing industry?—which is one of our most traditional industries. May I ask my noble friend whether the negotiations will in any way deal with the much higher fuel prices which our fishermen are having to pay? Will they deal with the measures of control that have been forecast relating to quota catches in the interests of conservation? While we know that the controls are ruthlessly imposed here, will the negotiations ensure that they are adequately imposed by some of our colleagues on the Continent? Also, will they in any way deal with the factory ships, which deprive our fishing ports of most valuable landing charges when those factory ships are from non-EEC countries?

The Earl of Mansfield

My Lords, I think, if I may say so, that most of the questions that my noble friend has directed to me this afternoon might be better directed to me tomorrow afternoon, when I hope to move the Second Reading of the Fisheries Bill, which in the legislation, so to speak, will answer a lot of her points. But taking the matter briefly, this scheme is designed to put money into the very hard-pressed fishing industry as quickly and as effectively as possible so that it can, as it were, continue in effective being until we work out a common fisheries policy and can fish fairly and profitably in the way that it always has in the past.

Matters of imports and the regulation of fishing are really quite apart from this support scheme which my right honourable friend has announced today, but I should like merely to reflect my noble friend's opinion that the Government take the plight of the fishing industry very seriously indeed. My right honourable friend the Prime Minister has made it plain from a very early stage in the Government's life that she regards the fishing industry as being crucial to the economy of some of the most hard-pressed and vulnerable parts of the United Kingdom and, indeed, to the rural economy as a whole, and the Government are determined that they should support the fishing industry until such times as we get a fair, just and equitable common fisheries policy to enable it to pursue its traditional calling in its traditional way.