Lord Broughham and Vauxasked Her Majesty's Government:
To respond to the report of the Common Fisheries Policy Review Group.
Lord LucasThe Government have carried out consultations on the report issued by the Common Fisheries Policy Review Group in July. The results of the consultation have been taken into account in preparing the government response, which is being placed in the Library today.
We are very grateful to the members of the group for all the work that they put into preparing a thorough and wide-ranging document. The group's overall conclusion was that the common fisheries policy has failings but that UK withdrawal would not address the fundamental problems facing the fishing industry. Where changes are needed, the common fisheries policy should therefore be improved from within. The Government agree with this approach as representing the only practicable way forward.
Forty specific recommendations are included in the group's report. The Government's response covers each of these in turn.