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Mr. Salmond: As the Parliamentary Secretary knows, expectations were raised. The hon. Gentleman says that nothing was ruled out, but the industry feels that certain obligations were undertaken. The Government have chosen to go down the road of the protocol and licence conditions, but the industry is sceptical about the efficacy of that approach. Given that raising of expectations before the election, does the hon. Gentleman accept the obligation? The route chosen by the Government will have to bear fruit, or the industry and many Members of Parliament will be very disappointed indeed.
Mr. Morley: I do accept that point. We made it clear that we would not rule out any approach; what we were concerned about was making some progress. We believe that the route we have taken has delivered some improvements, to which I shall refer.
When we examined the facts and calculated the chances of our obtaining a protocol, it became clear that it was not a realistic option. As hon. Members, especially former members of the Government, know only too well, a protocol in the IGC would have needed the unanimous agreement of every single member state. It was clear to us that at least two member states--Spain and Holland, which both have an interest in quota hopping--were certainly not going to agree to any protocol that would have a meaningful effect on dealing with quota hoppers. It was not, therefore, a runner. We made it clear that we would explore all the various routes.
Mr. Gill:
Will the Parliamentary Secretary give way on that point?
Mr. Morley:
Yes, but very briefly, because I want to respond to some of the points raised.
Mr. Gill:
Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the protocol could have been obtained if the Government had
Mr. Morley:
Absolutely not--I will come to it in a moment.
Unanimous agreement was needed, but it was clear that it would not be forthcoming. We wanted to look at other ways of tackling the issue. I should make it clear that, even under the Government's proposals, the protocol would not, in itself, have removed a single quota hopper or retained any quota to the UK fishing industry, because the quota hoppers were the legal owners of their quota.
Mr. Andrew George (St. Ives)
rose--
Mr. Morley:
I cannot give way--I must make progress and time is extremely limited.
The right hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Mr. Curry) made a very intelligent contribution, but I disagree with him on whether licence conditions would be effective. I do not believe that they have been properly tried. We are applying licence conditions that are far more effective than previous ones, whereby quota hoppers had the choice of either landing 50 per cent. of their catch at a UK port or calling into a UK port, eight times a year for a minimum of eight hours. Of course, they opted for the lesser requirement, and the system was not effective.
We believe that what we propose is effective. We also believe that it is legally enforceable, because we have the President of the Commission's interpretation. The Commission--the guardian of the treaties--took legal advice, and the fact that that advice was put in writing by the President of the Commission is important and will count for a lot in any future legal dispute over interpretation.
The hon. Member for Banff and Buchan asked whether MAGP IV could be used if we felt that no progress was being made with licence conditions. MAGP IV is a separate issue; it is about sustainability and the proper management of our fish stocks. It is not credible or realistic to say that we will not implement MAGP IV if we do not see any progress. It is also a weak lever, because, when the previous Government said that they would not implement MAGP IV, grants for safety improvements and modernisation were stopped and we were unable to access decommissioning grants. We were not in a strong position. It was not a strong bargaining point. We cannot use funds for decommissioning in a discriminatory way, but we do not rule out a targeted decommissioning scheme. We shall be only too happy to discuss that with the industry.
No central record is kept that would tell us how many fishermen comply with the safety training regulations. The database of the Sea Fish Industry Authority includes only fishermen who have completed courses run by a member of the Group Training Association. Many fishermen will have undertaken training from other approved training providers. The onus for complying with the regulations rests on individuals and on the skippers and owners of vessels.
The Marine Safety Agency monitors compliance with the regulations during inspections of registered vessels. If any of the crew members do not comply with the regulations, the skipper, the owner of the vessel and the individual concerned can be prosecuted--
Dr. George Turner (North-West Norfolk):
I am pleased that, in this debate on an issue crucial to some of my constituents, I have been joined, for moral support, by several other Norfolk Members who share my interest in the strategic development of our roads in East Anglia.
Before I talk about Middleton, I shall set the scene by saying that East Anglia is the Cinderella of our road network: a Cinderella who has been forced into shoes that have been too tight, which have hurt her increasingly as she has grown. Our Cinderella of a region needs to grow, so that our prosperity equals that of other regions.
Cinderella is not dressed in the baubles of monster motorways. We are not looking to six-lane highways or bypasses to bypass the bypasses of the 1970s. East Anglia has not caught up with the 1960s and 1970s, and that is the underlying problem confronting people in Middleton. The lack of investment in our road network causes fatal injuries and damages the local economy; moreover, it could undermine the prosperity of our region.
Middleton is close to King's Lynn, which is the heart of my constituency. It has a large and broadly based manufacturing sector for a town of its size. Road communications are increasingly important factors when many businesses take decisions on expansion and contraction.
Although road improvements have been promised since the 1970s, they have not arrived. The managing director of a large and important local company said of King's Lynn:
We know that our ports of East Anglia are being prevented from fulfilling their potential by inadequate road links, and throughout the county--from King's Lynn, through Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft--those road links are hurting. Cinderella is hurting. She is not looking for the richness of motorways, just dual carriageways--major arteries of the type that were routinely built in the 1970s. The A47 is obviously such a major artery.
I did not want to devote my speech to economic issues. This debate was triggered by yet another tragic accident on the A47, almost two weeks ago. The timing of that accident and its seriousness--there was yet another fatality--led me, as the new Member for the constituency, to study the history of the broken promises of a bypass for Middleton.
In doing so, I have been helped by several people. I have been pleased to have the personal support of Colin Skipper, who, as chairman of the parish council, has written to me at length and helped me to piece together a history of promises stretching back to the 1940s. He was especially helpful because he has campaigned on the issue
for more than a decade. Eileen Sheridan, the local councillor, allowed me to piece together newspaper cuttings, which tell a sorry tale.
The Lynn News, which has campaigned on the issue, has correctly identified the mood of the people. I should be pleased to show the Minister pictures of the accident. We know that we have a new Government who need time to consider things, but we want to ensure that they have before them, as they consider what action to take, the information--
Dr. Ian Gibson (Norwich, North):
Does my hon. Friend agree that many accidents occur as holidaymakers return along that road from other parts of the country to the coast--Great Yarmouth, Hunstanton, Cromer and so on--and that the nature of the accidents there has been an increasing problem in the summer months?
Dr. Turner:
My hon. Friend makes a valid point. One problem with our roads that the statistics do not show is the mix of the traffic, in which thundering lorries, caravans and vehicles driven by holidaymakers are mingled.
Mr. Bob Blizzard (Waveney):
I admit that some of the thundering lorries that pass through Middleton are on their way to or from the port of Lowestoft, in my constituency.
12.30 pm
"The current local road network does not make it. The A47 is slow. It is dangerous and it inhibits commuting. The result costs us money and it costs us high quality people. Our analysis indicates if we were to build today in the UK, it would not be in King's Lynn and road access is the No 1 reason . . . If the A47 stays as it is, the questions will continue."
That worries local people. Given the history of Government broken promises on the timing of improvements, we believe that our local economy in East Anglia has already been damaged.
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