Agenda item

Common Fisheries Policy

It was moved by Councillor John Booker, seconded by Councillor Keith Davis, that this Council:-

(a)       believes the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) has been an economic, social and environmental disaster for the UK, with the result that, we, a once great sea-faring nation with the greatest trading seaborne empire the world has ever seen, are reduced to importing two thirds of the fish we consume;

(b)       regrets that the British political class are seemingly unconcerned about this perceived betrayal, and that the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative parties seem to believe that the perceived vast waste of taxpayers’ money and the plundering of our waters with no thought for the future, are a price worth paying for EU membership;

(c)        further regrets that, when former Prime Minister, Edward Heath, two weeks after his election victory in 1970, signed the CFP deal, this led to what amounted to an invasion of British coastal waters – whilst having almost 80% of Europe’s fishing grounds, the UK has only 13% of Europe’s fishing quota;

(d)       agrees with the late Labour politician, Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, when he described Great Britain as an "island made of coal, surrounded by a sea of fish", and regrets that these jewels in our crown have seemingly been abandoned and surrendered;

(e)       places on record the facts that, in 1970, 948,000 tonnes of fish were landed from British vessels and by 2015 it was 405,000 tonnes, the reduction of fishermen over that period was from 20,751 to 12,450, and we now import £2.66 billion worth of fish annually; and

(f)        further, states we must put a stop to what this Council believes to be a scandal, and the only way to do so is to leave the EU and reclaim our seas.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Joe Otten, seconded by Councillor Roger Davison, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words:-

(a)         notes the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was adopted in 1983 to protect declining fish stocks, protecting not only the environment but the interests of the fishing industry and consumers;

(b)         believes that a free-for-all of fishing would lead to the destruction of fish stocks through over-fishing, threatening the future of the fishing industry for all nations;

(c)         notes that as fish are unaware of the boundaries of territorial waters, no single country can have an effective policy to maintain their own fish stocks;

(d)       welcomes the 2014 reforms of the CFP which includes:-

(i)         a ban on discards – the controversial practice of discarding often edible fish;

(ii)        a legally binding commitment to fishing at sustainable levels; and

(iii)       more decentralised decision making, allowing Member States to agree the measures appropriate to their own fisheries;

(e)         regrets that UKIP MEPs abstained on this reform in the European Parliament; and

(f)          believes that the leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage MEP's attendance record of 1 out 42 meetings of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee during the three years he was a member of that Committee demonstrates UKIP’s complete lack of commitment to sustainable fishing and the future of the fishing industry.

On being put to the vote, Paragraph (f) of the above amendment was carried and all of the remaining paragraphs were negatived.

(Note: The Lord Mayor (Councillor Talib Hussain), The Deputy Lord Mayor (Councillor Denise Fox) and Councillors Julie Dore, Mike Drabble, Jack Scott, Julie Gledhill, Roy Munn, Helen Mirfin-Boukouris, Chris Rosling-Josephs, Ian Saunders, Bryan Lodge, Karen McGowan, Jayne Dunn, Jackie Drayton, Ibrar Hussain, Lewis Dagnall, Anne Murphy, Geoff Smith, Mazher Iqbal, Mary Lea, Joyce Wright, Sheila Constance, Alan Law, Steve Jones, Cate McDonald, Chris Peace, Bob Johnson, George Lindars-Hammond, Josie Paszek, Terry Fox, Pat Midgley, David Barker, Tony Downing, Nasima Akther, Nikki Bond, Mohammad Maroof, John Campbell, Lynn Rooney, Paul Wood, Peter Price, Sioned-Mair Richards, Peter Rippon, Leigh Bramall, Tony Damms, Richard Crowther, Olivia Blake, Ben Curran, Neale Gibson, Adam Hurst, Zoe Sykes, Mick Rooney and Jackie Satur voted for Paragraph (f) and against Paragraphs (a) to (e) of the amendment and asked for this to be recorded).

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-