Over our years in the EU some of the worst damage the EU has done is that to our fishing grounds and fishing industry. Environmentalists are rightly upset by the industrial trawler techniques ripping out so much fish, only to see a lot of it thrown back into the sea dead under the infamous discards policy. Our fishermen and women have seen more and more quota allocated to foreign vessels. There has been a big decline in our fishing fleets, and a big decline in the proportion of the catch landed in the UK.
As soon as we leave the EU the UK becomes an independent coastal state with full control over our own waters. We will decide how much fish it is safe to take out of our seas, and how much of that should be fished by UK vessels. The opportunities are great. People in the fishing industry think we could catch and land twice as much as we do today by taking back control of our own fish stocks, whilst removing fewer fish from the sea overall with no discards. They also think there is considerable spare capacity in the present UK fleet, given the controls on fishing.
Work is well advanced with systems to regulate the amount of fish taken without having to throw dead fish back into the sea with all the extra damage that creates. That means we can land more in UK vessels whilst stillĀ taking fewer fish overall. Ā If we landed in the UK twice the amount currently landed, that would add Ā£900 m of raw fish value. Ā This becomes Ā£3.5bn of total value for the UK once the fish have been processed and sold on to final customers. We would develop more fish processing industries, often in coastal communities that need more jobs and more value added processing.
These policies would boost employment, cut our balance of payments deficit on food, provide more wholesome local food, and reduce environmental damage. The seas would be plundered less, and there would be fewer food miles travelled from trawler to plate. It’s another compelling argument against delay in exiting the EU.
November 2, 2018
Dr. Redwood,
You are, sadly, one of very few voices from the Conservative Party telling a positive Brexit native; why is that so? The May government appears to be negligent, at best, in not stating all the benefits we could have if we become completely disentangled from the EU. Please encourage your colleagues to organise and promote for the widest audience what are our opportunities in all the key economic sectors.
November 2, 2018
Appeaser May is a misguided & robotic puppet of the wrongheaded group thing of bureaucrats. She is also clear an interventionist and a greencrap socialist giving you the highest taxes for nearly 50 years, expensive energy, endless waste and very poor public services too. The dire NHS is on course to take 40% of total public spending. It can never work as currently organised and funded this is surely obvious to anyone sensible. It is a total outrage that this is allowed to continue. Giving even more money to waste is idiotic.
The NHS gives dire outcomes, pointless deaths, second rate or worse care, rationing and endless delays. One of the worst systems around for a developed nation.
November 2, 2018
JR, second paragraph is totally untrue. As soon as the UK leaves in March everything remains the same, Davis made that clear. The UK ‘hopes’ it will be consulted in 2020 the year the punishment might end. This is because May has imposed an unnecessary two year punishment extension as a vassal state.
Back stabbed Gove has not written an independent fishing policy, read it.
The cards are in your hand and you keep folding to keep May in office! Another day another whinge without taking any action. Did you vote for the budget you moaned about? Another good EU bartering chip thrown away.
No one trusts May, Hammond, Carney, OBR etc. We are sick to death of the scare stories, published and orated, sanctioned by May while the rest of you let her do it!
November 2, 2018
It must be the only govt in history throughout the world that has a central main policy it will not promote and is actively using every govt tool, department and media briefing tool to turn public opinion against it.
Then we have the political cowardice of MPs not ousting those responsible and a large proportion abusing their position and acting as traitors against electoral democracy. Over 80 percent of MPs stood on a manifesto policy to be elected, their intention to con their voters. They must never be elected again, nor hold any public sector office. These MPs are trying to defy the will of the people. Two people who must be held to account for this abject failure are Corbyn and May as party leaders.
Good to see members of the Electoral Commission, unfit for purpose, leaving post. They all should have been thrown out on their ear!
November 3, 2018
They day the Labour Party renaged on their promises for us to vote on the Lisbon treaty and we were told via the courts that a manifesto commitment was not worth the paper it was written on, democracy died.
November 2, 2018
Yet we are all singing from the same sheet, apparently. So why does Dr Redwood not answer your question, Hope? WHY is May being allowed to go on like this? Why? And, again, why?
November 3, 2018
L Jones, Indeed, why? The only thing I can suppose (assuming the Leave Tory MPs are sincere) is those MPs think they will defeat Chequers in Parliament. That is, they are lazily relying on hope. It is a massive error of judgement.
My prediction for some months now is that Labour will ensure Chequers passes. This view is now widespread. Either Jeremy Corbyn will seize on the opportunity to collapse the Conservative party into civil war, or individual Labour Remain MPs will vote for the Chequers Remain that they’ve wanted ever since 24 June 2016.
November 3, 2018
Hope..Gove is on the record as saying everything will work out provided we make the right decisions..clever man
November 2, 2018
Correction: narrative.
We MUST leave the EU and prepare for the worst. Germany will enter recession in 2019/2020 and the Euro will then fail. Our growth cycle is over, prepare for recession.
Ref the ZEW survey for October: The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment for the Euro Area fell to -19.4 in October of 2018 from -7.2 in the previous month and worse than market expectations of -9.2. It was the weakest reading since August 2012.
November 3, 2018
Good. About time the Germans had a little of that austerity they have been imposing on everyone else.
November 2, 2018
Please hear this loud and clear.
If May’s Brexit Capitulations are voted through Parliament I will not be voting Conservative again, whether or not my MP believes in Brexit.
When the majority of Conservative MPs are more than happy to see their country humilited, it is not a Conservative Party.
November 2, 2018
We read today May is about to bounce the cabinet into accepting her betrayal of the nation or she will quit.
This is a no brainier. Make her quit and take Hammond, Robbins and chief of staff with her.
If she quits I feel quite optimistic about our country’s future.
November 2, 2018
The UK fishing industry is a shadow of what it was.
Hull was the biggest deep sea fishing port in the world before the cod war and EU had an impact.
Fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The BBC had a recent documentary on Hulls āHeadscarf heroesā. Wives of fisherman who organised after three boats were lost at sea in 1968. Small vessels often had no radio. There was no medical support if anything happened. Owners were unsympathetic and ignored the women. However, they persisted and forced improvement via parliament and the law.
Elsewhere, ports cannot get staff to fill the lower number of vacancies that are left. Kilkeel in County Down was one example.
So once quotas improve there is still a lot to be down in regards to boosting the fishing fleet.
Well done to those women of Hull for organising to improve working conditions back in the 1960s.
November 3, 2018
As Owen Patterson, Fishing for Leave & others have pointed out, the 21 month Transition is more than sufficient to enable the EU to eradicate much of Britain’s fishing industry: “An EU discard ban is to be fully enforced as of 2019 … This has potentially ruinous economic effects as vessels will be forced to tie up and return to port upon exhausting their smallest allocation…The EU has every incentive to enforce this ban as international law (UNCLOS 62.2) says if a nation does not have the capacity to catch all its resources it must give the surplus to its neighbours.” https://brexitcentral.com/theresa-mays-chequers-plan-will-prove-fatal-british-fishing/ https://twitter.com/fishingforleave https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-death-sentence-for-our-fishing-fleet/
November 2, 2018
The shameful story of David Lidington’s “warning” in Cabinet tells you all you need to know about this government. With the three senior people hell bent on stopping Brexit, it is little wonder they never encourage positive coverage.
Mr Redwood must keep telling it how it is, especially on fishing which is shamefully neglected and will probably be bartered away in exchange for something we don’t want or would have had anyway. Ignorant young men in London say stupid things like “Fishing is a tiny part of our GDP”. Well of course it is if the fish have been stolen these last 40 years. But these young men are “making policy” as they call it.
November 2, 2018
There has been a big decline in our fishing fleets, and a big decline in the proportion of the catch landed in the UK.
I speak Redwoodese pretty well these days I`m going to go for a rough an dirty translation:
“The catch landed in the UK has not decreased other than by some makey uppy interns calculation of “proportion”
The fleet has therefore , not changed in terms of ability to catch fish , only in terms of tonnage but mostly “number of little boats “.
The main problem is large efficient trawlers owned by large companies
We will land no more fish
If we did, which we will not , who will we sell them to when they are the subject of tariffs to their largest market
The fish processing industry …ha ha …how is that going to work when you cannot take anyone`s fish in and out of the UK without them learning to speak English and living here or 3 years ( or something)..
November 2, 2018
Newmania
Why would you like to see the UK suffer?
Why not talk (y)our country UP rather than DOWN?
Have you ever said anything positive about the UK’s ability to manage its own affairs?
Have you ever spent a little time telling us why you think the EU is great and glorious?
Have you ever tried to win hearts and minds here by describing what a golden future we would have had, had we decided to remain shackled to your much-admired EU?
November 2, 2018
Newmania does not want to see the UK suffer, which is why he rejects your Brexit.
You voted to make us all poorer. To make our country an irrelevance. To turn us into a global joke.
Why would you do that if you are genuinely a patriot? The answer is that you are not a patriot. You are a nationalist. Thereās a difference.
November 3, 2018
Andy, Why do you suppose that we cannot run our own country when India, New Zealand, Japan, etc, can do?
November 3, 2018
You are being silly again andy.
No one voted to be poorer we voted to leave the EU and become a free independent nation once more.
Standards of living are rising with unemployment at record lows.
Unlike the Eurozone.
November 2, 2018
Off topic BUT
Yesterday you implied BoE actions had averted a recession. This is a bit like me claiming that since purchasing a new lawn mower I have seen no poisonous snakes in my garden. There were never any snalkes and there was never any recession. Who says?
Andy Haldane, BoE Chief Economist made this statement in a GUARDIAN Article
The Bank of Englandās chief economist has admitted his profession is in crisis having failed to foresee the 2008 financial crash and having misjudged the impact of the Brexit vote.
So the BoE got the financial crash wrong – the Brexit vote wrong – and if we check back I’m sure they backed the UK joining the Euro and thought the ERM was just dandy.
Your “experts” would have a better record if they simply tossed a coin. Perhaps they do?
November 2, 2018
In the Cambridge / Bury St. Edmunds area, there’s a brew made up of strong bitter ale and Barley Wine. The locals call it ‘brain damage’. To all those who hold a similar view to the one expressed above, I suggest they leave it well alone.
Tad
November 2, 2018
Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermenās Federation, added that big vessels would continue to take the lionās share of quota after Brexit: āThe world cannot be fed from the produce of small boats and garden allotments: a quarter of a million tonnes of mackerel cannot be caught inshore with hand-lines.ā
Remember that the Brits don’t eat the fish caught in Brit waters; but, the continentals do! The Brits eat the fish which are mainly caught in EEA waters. The Brits could get back into the fish meal business, but Denmark and Norway have cornered that market.
November 3, 2018
Acorn, So what we eat is set in stone? Really? The reason why we “donāt eat [all] the fish caught in Brit waters” is because most of it is landed elsewhere. As for the rest, what is wrong in exporting it? You’d complain if the sky was blue if it could be shown it was due to Brexit!
November 2, 2018
“…when you cannot take anyone`s fish in and out of the UK without them learning to speak English and living here or 3 years ( or something)..”
Well it was quite obvious that the public wanted controlled immigration and that the Home Office is now making a deliberate pig’s ear so they can say “Told you so !”
We have no problems with truly essential workers coming here but our own being forced out to work will be a Brexit bonus.
When we did a deal to take in vulnerable children from Calais (and few of us had a problem with this) we were very annoyed to see bus loads of thirty-year-olds turning up.
Now, as some of us feared, men posing as children are sitting in classrooms among our children.
Don’t blame Redwood. Don’t blame UKIP, Farage, Banks… blame everyone in our establishment who abrogated total responsibility and then told us it was because of EU membership.
There had to be consequences.
I happen to believe a lack of food and a bit of hardship will do the podgy British the world of good. Clearly membership of the EU has made us a soft and substandard people. We may finally be rid of political correctness too – we will be unable to afford it.
November 2, 2018
As John says, a UK natural resource worth Ā£3.5Bn p.a. is currently not being used for the UK’s benefit. (Analgous to Brussels licensing & receiving royalties on Ā£3.5Bn p.a. of North Sea Oil extraction.)
Like our host, this letter sets out the facts: https://order-order.com/2018/03/21/mogg-13-mps-write-may-declaring-transition-deal-completely-unacceptable/
“Under the Common Fisheries Policy, EU vessels now catch 650,000 tons of fish in UK waters while UK vessels catch only 90,000 tons in non-UK EU waters in return. As a result, the UK is a net importer of fish each year, with a fish deficit of 300,000 tonnes. This bleak picture however underplays the decline in the UK fishing fleet as many of the UK vessels are under foreign economic ownership and land their fish abroad ā only 446,000 tones was actually landed in the UK.”
November 3, 2018
Correction: EU27 trawlers currently take around 750,000 tonnes of fish from UK waters each year. https://brexitcentral.com/goves-plan-take-back-control-fishing/
November 2, 2018
Last March Whitehall seemed shockingly keen to give away UK fishing rights: “Publicly, DEFRA has maintained up to this point that the CFP being part of a Brexit transition is a matter for negotiation. However, privately, a senior civil servant conceded to representatives of the fishing industry last month that it would be included in the transition, telling them: āeverything was inā and āif not, we are putting ourselves inā… the remarks do lend weight to the idea that the civil service never intended to exclude fish from the transition.” http://brexitcentral.com/well-caught-hook-line-sinker-dont-exclude-fishing/
November 3, 2018
Here speaketh the man who has not witnessed first hand the devastation of coastal fishing communities throughout the entire UK (not just Hull). And not because of inefficient smaller, more environmentally friendly vessels but because of policies determined elsewhere by unelected others who have allowed massive vessels to hoover the sea bed for anything that lives and then discard those dead creatures which are not within their quota.
November 2, 2018
Who’s talking about delay? It’s written in indelible ink in my diary.
November 2, 2018
Indeed under T May, Ollie Robbins and P Hammond we will surely not even get this. It seems it is being given away as another bartering chip.
November 2, 2018
“Police cannot pick and choose between crimes” says Diane Abbott our arithmetically and logically challenged shadow Home Secretary. A bit like saying medics at A&E should not prioritise treatments!
Has Dianne now gone totally and utterly mad? They have to pick and choose priorities every single day dear. The problem is that they often/usually make very wrong choices and waste time on hurt feelings “crimes”, Ted Heath investigations and even the odd Boris Johnson comment rather than violent crimes, burglary and thefts.
November 2, 2018
The only form of bartering May knows is deceitfully capitulating 100% behind closed doors while putting up a show of doing the opposite for the gallery. Perhaps if she had ever had a job in the real world – but she is a creature of the state through and through.
November 2, 2018
A lot of our orchards were also grubbed up after joining the EU. We saw more tasteless French produce in our shops. The EU has been bad all round for this country. Why do so many politicians want it to carry on?
November 2, 2018
Indeed a return to far better crisp, english apples would be most welcome.
November 2, 2018
Plenty to be had in Aldi and Lidl, strangely! Probably two of the best things to come out of Germany (and we won’t mention the others).
November 2, 2018
Fedupsoutherner… It couldn’t possibly be (whisper) s e l f i n t e r e s t, could it?
November 2, 2018
For the same reason why they like so many QUANGO’S. They can off-load their responsibilities on to others and not take the flak when it all goes pear-shaped.
Simple.
November 2, 2018
Ideology dear boy, ideology.
November 2, 2018
Dear lady, I meant. Apologies,
November 2, 2018
Quite. This article describes why France set up the EUās CAP:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/13/horrifying-true-story-france-used-eu-undermine-british-agriculture/
As you say, why did our establishment fall into this obvious ‘heffalump trap’ and why do they refuse to climb out of it?
November 2, 2018
FUS
“The EU has been bad all round for this country. Why do so many politicians want it to carry on?”
Because they’re either PC indoctrinated Lib-Lab attention seekers, treasoners sneaked into the British political system by the EU, or they have financial interest in betraying our sovereignty.
Take your pick.
November 2, 2018
Good morning
I wish I could believe you, but I don’t. And he live me, for many, this is the acid test.
November 3, 2018
Mark B, You are right. Chequers states: “a common rulebook for goods including agri-food” – ie, including fish; and “fishing, putting in place new arrangements for annual negotiations on access to waters and the sharing of fishing opportunities“. If we’ve left the EU, why would we be annually negotiating with them about access to our fishing waters at all?
November 2, 2018
I read recently that British fishing quotas had largely been sold abroad, following government policy to sell anything of value for a quick buck.
Won’t these foreign concerns continue to own UK fishing quotas after we leave the EU?
Or is it proposed to steal their property back from them?
November 2, 2018
Dave, It would be interesting to see how those quotas/licences were sold?
One would presume that they were not in perpetuity, were they 5 years, 10 years or what? Worth a bit of research….Denis !!!
Certainly in future they should not be allowed to be “sold on” and should return to the UK if not used. And, maybe a percentage or all of any catch should be landed in the UK.
November 3, 2018
I’d start here:
http://ffl.org.uk/
Fishing For Leave
November 2, 2018
Unfortunately JR has no answer to this.
November 2, 2018
Under the EU rules, the UK already has and always has possessed the power to alter the way quota is allocated, and if it wished could make more of the quota available to smaller vessels. Successive governments have declined to do so, partly because of the complexity of changing the allocations, which might face legal challenges from the owners of big vessels, but also out of free-market ideology.
The governmentās admission on page 12 of the white paper, that it will not seek to make radical changes to this arrangement even when the UK leaves the EU, shows the limitations in ātaking back controlā over fisheries policy. (Gaurdian)
November 2, 2018
Again JR has no answer to this.
November 3, 2018
The answer is that it would make no overall dfference.
The totals are set by the EU so dividing the UK’s allocation in a different way does not alter the total we are given.
November 3, 2018
Acorn, It shows no such thing. We chose to take back control, but the government is betraying us. It is both perfectly practical, and legally valid, for the UK to control its own fishing waters to the 200nm limit. And the UK could limit the size of fishing vessels, or make any other restrictions it deems fit, within our EEZ.
November 2, 2018
Freedom from the EU is superior to being stitched up like a frozen kipper under their control.
November 2, 2018
Don’t be quite so scornful of kippers, they’re about the only thing resembling actual conservatives out there at the moment. Which is more than you can say for the Tory Party’s current leadership, or even going back a couple of decades.
November 2, 2018
Martin. Three cheers for ukip. Our new Tory party.
November 3, 2018
Whereas kippers are slaughtered fish, UKIP supporters activate powerful force opposing EU diktats.
Many UKIP members uphold Conservative values to a higher standard than others stuck rigidly within the so-called Conservative party. Further, many Conservative voters loyal to their principles switch tactically to UKIP to enable a corrective tug at key points, such as now.
As Theresa May feebly attempts to ignore the dynamics of mounting resistance, her wobbly support shall shake itself apart.
November 2, 2018
John you are preaching to the converted out here, its those who are running our negotiations you need to convince.
The last remark I heard from Mrs May on fishing was, we will make sure we get our “fair share” !!
“Fair share” when it should be OUR waters and we should have complete control !
Perfectly understand if as a last resort some foreign vessels are still allowed into our waters for a so called SHORT transition period, but they should be under our rules, our controls, and fish should be landed in our ports.
November 2, 2018
There was a petition (petition.parliament uk, November 2017) about taking back control of our waters, and the Government’s reply is worth reading. Will this be yet another red line crossed? How much longer can we remain optimistic about our own Government’s goodwill towards our country?
November 2, 2018
Come on Alan, there is no negotiation it is a capitulation. What have the UK negotiators secured from the EU? The EU made outrageous demands and the UK negotiators have tried to limit its extent, nothing more.
Who in their right mind would have agree the first two agreements! Other than remainer May who wishes to keep the UK in the EU contrary to all what she said in her Lancaster speech and the twelve points she made.
November 3, 2018
Hope
I agree that our negotiators have been worse than poor.
I agree that we have seen nothing but capitulation.
The lead person is the one responsible, and its a certain T May, hence my comment.
The Eu do not do compromise, that should have been obvious to anyone years ago.
Quite why we simply did not say we are leaving and then leave on our terms, take it or leave it, unless they wanted to agree a simple and transparent trade arrangement, I will never understand.
November 2, 2018
Our waters, our fish, our rules, how can May not grasp this?
November 2, 2018
Fishing is a non-issue
The Electoral Commission acting ultra vires. Involving the NCA. Destroying the legal basis of the referendum. Delegitimisation of the referendum result is the main aim here and then annulling the result
Northern Ireland will become a EU protectorate
The UK is slowly being ripped apart
And the Tories? They skip along like kids in a park with Theresa May at the helm.
The UK as the crucible of freedom, speech and liberty is dead. Hate crime laws will politicise one and all. Freedom of speech is no longer sacrosanct as it once was. All of this under a party that I believe has always championed the individual and their freedoms
I believe the UK is dangerously heading in the wrong direction and all of this is being done in the name of May’s obsession with detoxifying the Tory party. She’s got it in her head that we think the Tories are racist and nasty. Theresa, only Labour think that! The vast majority of the people don’t believe that this is the case
All Eurosceptic MPs especially in the Tories have capitulated to May and her pro-EU allies and we’re all going to pay a heavy price for that capitulation
November 2, 2018
I have seen no evidence that the traitorous May is going to do anything of the kind. She deflects questions on the subject. Just where are the signs there will be increased controls over foreign vessels in our waters, and why do you assume there is plenty of capacity in our existing fleet? That smacks of complacency and a wish to avoid difficulties.
Where is the programme for additional Navy boats to protect against and deter the inevitable foreign incursions? If the recent capitulation to the French is anything to go by there’s not much chance May intends to protect our interests and do anything along such lines. She’s more intent I believe in protecting the EU’s interests than ours. She cannot imagine the UK as existing outside the EU and thus has no comprehension of our sovereign status, and remains unfit to take us out.
I was talking to a travelling fishmonger from the east coast of England recently who said the fish she sells is always landed by foreign vessels, and in my view it wasn’t very good quality. I got the impression they keep the best and we get the second best.
November 2, 2018
It was announced this week that the Appledore shipyard(which had,in it’s past,specialised in patrol boats and other small-medium sized military vessels) would be closing down.
November 2, 2018
Yes more climate alarmist tosh on the BBC today “consistent with warming driven by human activities” is the meaning less but alarmist phrase the Met Office use. The Met office whose predictions have been wrong as consistently as the Bank of England & the Treasury. Did they not tell us global warming would make the gulf steam change and the UK would get colder and we would have water shortages. The weather & climate changes always has always will just get over it and adapt as needed.
Winter excess deaths are the far bigger problem in the UK and not summer ones anyway. Often caused by excessive fuel costs due to an idiotic government energy policy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46064266
November 2, 2018
Plenty of snow in the alps already it seems this year. Did they not tell us the European ski resorts would all be closing due to lack of snow?
Why does the tax payers have to finance this endless, alarmist and totally wrong propaganda from the BBC and Met office?
November 2, 2018
The obvious solution is less human activity – in other words less people.
The elephant in the room they never mention.
November 2, 2018
This is actually mentioned pretty often. The way to stop population growth is to help poor countries develop. Women in developed countries have fewer children. But those of you who complain most about over-population also complain the most about overseas aid – which helps reduce over-population.
At some point you lot really need to learn to put my money where your mouth is (my money because I am a net contributor to the system and most of those of you who complain about taxes are not).
November 3, 2018
What do you do to with the tens of millions in poor countries who decide they will not wait decades for a standard of living which is as good as ours and decide they want to come to Europe?
November 3, 2018
You live in your Mum’s basement.
You claim to own a translation company but we never read any linguistic flourishes in your postings that would add a bit of polish and sophistry.
Curious.
(Capcha is an insult.)
November 2, 2018
Thanks for the link. This is not related to model predictions but comparing the distributions of observed temperatures over the 2008-2017 period to those over the 1961-1990 period, and noting the shift not only in means but also in extremes. This looks scientifically and methodologically correct. So what’s your beef?
November 3, 2018
It is carefully chosen time frame with not even a similar number of years for each group.
And in climate terms it is like comparing Saturday last month with today.
November 2, 2018
I’ve never been quite able to understand how the radiation reflected back from one molecule in two thousand five hundred in the air (that is 400 ppm) is supposed to be controlling the climate of this planet, as the eco-loon establishment claim. I think thatās how the man-made global warming theory works if Iām not mistaken. I see that the bird mincers which are supposed, according to the Tory greens to be the way of the future for our energy industry, are currently registering less than 4% of UK electricity demand. But that isn’t particularly unusual after all. Anyway the shortfall can always be made up by the thousands of STOR diesel generators that this government depends on when the wind doesnāt blow. Even if they are more polluting than coal and paid for at many times the electricity strike price.
Hmm, just wondering why this lot are intent on phasing out diesel engine cars at the same time as making the country ever more dependent on STOR diesels for electricity generation while they scrap conventional power stations? A slight whiff of hypocrisy there perhaps? Or maybe they simply haven’t got a clue.
http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/
November 2, 2018
It’s a fairly safe bet, when you can’t decide between incompetence or cunning conspiracy, to settle for incompetence.
November 3, 2018
Martin, What you say is true. However “green house gases” (which do not operate like a green house) do elevate temperatures on planet earth. And of course they, the oceans, the land, and atmospheric circulation, help to even out temperatures too.
The green house gas with the biggest effect by far is water vapour for which mankind cannot be responsible, since the planet is predominantly covered by water. The obsession with only one green house gas, CO2, is silly; and the “solutions” like STOR, closing natural fuel power stations, electric cars, etc, are lunacy.
November 3, 2018
global warming is not an issue but nuclear waste and plastic pollution is and we are not going to live on mars or another planet after we wrecked earth as human space travel is a hoax.
November 2, 2018
It is a sad commentary on the state of the UK political debate that you find it necessary to post these remarks, with which I agree. For Mrs May must bear a heavy responsibility. She used to get my benefit of the doubt about her intentions. That changed with the extraordinary Chequers episode. I now hear that Tracey Crouch has resigned because she has been misled over betting terminals. Clearly Mrs May cannot be trusted. I hope that reports that the Cabinet no longer trusts her over her interpretation of the legal implications of the proposed EU withdrawal agreement are true.
November 2, 2018
Surely no one now trusts her an inch. She even falsely assured the nation in the referendum that we had control of our border while in the EU through being out of Schengen this to try to trick voters into a remain vote. She clearly knew this was a blatant lie she was a long serving, Home Secretary after all.
Brexit clearly means sweet F.A. to the socialist appeaser Theresa.
November 2, 2018
Nothing to disagree with today John, but only if we leave the EU at the end of March. Whips are working overtime on Leave MP’s to get them to support Chequers and if it goes through we will not be leaving except in name only. There are bound to be yet more compromises and fishing is likely to be high on the list so I find little to be optimistic about and expect sell out.
Reply The EU does not accept Chequers
November 2, 2018
Reply to John’s reply:
No, but they will or a modified form of it that still breaks the majority of TM’s original ‘red lines’.
November 2, 2018
”The EU does not accept Chequers” – but why does the media keep banging on about it?
November 2, 2018
We must leave the CFP in March 2019. No later. No ‘transition’.
November 2, 2018
JR – Reply’ The EU does not accept Chequers’-
if that is the case why is Dominic Raab saying a deal will be done by Nov 21st ?
Not to mention many of us here already suspect that a deal was done months ago.
November 2, 2018
It will not be called Chequers but it will be even worse than Chequers. May and Hammond will pretend to polish the turd and try to ram it through Parliament with Labour support. They both need to be stopped and removed. They are wrong on economic policy, climate alarmist, the endless PC drivel, tax levels, tax complexity, public spending/waste, the NHS and almost everything else too. Just get rid of them.
They are both tedious robotic and huge electoral liabilities too. The only good think one can say of them is that they are a little better than Corbyn/McDonnall/SNP.
November 2, 2018
Reply to reply.
Yes, I do understand that but, fully expect last minute fudging, compromise and betrayal before a ‘deal’ is presented to Parliament.
November 2, 2018
It is correct that the EU does not accept Chequers but this means that Mrs. May is expected to come back with a bad deal that is even worse that her current Chequers proposal.
The country that voted to leave the EU and its institutions (made very clear by both sides in the referendum) now finds that a remainer PM and Parliament are about to sign a deal with the EU which leaves the UK bound to the EU by separate CU and SM (āregulatory alignmentā) treaties under ECJ jurisdiction and without any representation.
Unless the leavers in Parliament such as yourself can persuade a majority of MPs that a āno dealā (viz WTO terms) is the way forward then we will be witnessing a Parliamentary coup where the remainer MPs will not be representing their electorates and instead will be overturning a referendum result which was 64/36 to leave in constituency terms.
November 2, 2018
Reply The EU does not accept Chequers
Nothing to stop them accepting later, is there?
November 2, 2018
And Mark Francois says it isn’t going to get through Parliament. He used to be a whip so he should know what he is talking about.
November 3, 2018
Reply – Reply
They will eventually John, when they have gained ever more concessions from Mrs May because its all in their favour.
They will still have control over almost everything we do, and are allowed to do, and we will then have no voice at all.
Worse than no deal, when at least we could be our own masters, and control our own destiny..
November 2, 2018
The Conservative Government sold out the fishing community for EEC membership. I get a sense this Conservative Government will also sell out the fishing community with Brexit, this time used as a sweetener to get some deal for another commercial interest, which all goes to show how corrupt our EU membership has been, for our Governments have been guilty of trading away industry blocks for other interests. A game played where hundreds of thousands of peoples lives are trashed in late night sittings in the EU, a case of we’ll give away our fishing industry, and we will take in return…..but as the British establishment are so woeful in negotiations and defending our interests, they get in return some woolly undertaking that proves worthless.
If any lesson should be taken from our EU membership, it is that the British establishment should never ever be allowed to lock us into relationships that disenfranchise the electorate, and make representation in Parliament pointless. Perhaps a statue should be put up in Parliament of an unemployed fisherman as a reminder to the importance of sovereignty, and the cost when it is given away. A lesson that is important to remember with this rush to sign up to trade deals that could be just as damaging as our entanglement with the EU.
November 2, 2018
If that happens we will need many extra coastal protection ships. This makes the closure of Appledore Shipyard more perplexing added to the order given to Italian Company that could have reprieved it. Unfortunately government seems to be brainwashed into buying overseas.
She has to go, along with Hammond.
November 2, 2018
Fish and shoals of fish do respect international boundaries and do not stay in the same place all year round .
The UK has to persuade other (mainly EU) countries of the benefits of responsible fishery management .
This is difficult given the French and Spanish in particular appear incapable of even grasping the concept of conservation .
For example , a bass may be in UK waters between April and October but in southern French waters over the Winter .
November 2, 2018
Well, the EU raised objections to elements of Chequers but we don’t know what the UK government may be offering to persuade the EU to accept it in some form. That’s because it has to be a secret negotiation, and only when it’s all been agreed and signed and can no longer be amended will MPs be told what they have to approve.
November 2, 2018
That was a reply to JR’s reply to BOF.
November 2, 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/01/brexit-eu-fishing-row-threatens-to-snag-may-customs-union-plan
“Brexit: EU fishing row threatens to snag Mayās customs union plan”
“Theresa May is facing fresh opposition from EU countries that have large fishing communities to her demands for an agreement before Brexit day on a temporary customs union to solve the Irish border problem.”
Firstly a customs union alone would not be sufficient to solve the fictitious Irish border problem. It was pointed out on here last December:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/12/06/comments-to-this-site/#comment-905832
that the removal of all border checks followed from the creation of the EU Single Market in 1993, not the application of the EC customs union in 1973.
As had been explained by Oxford Professor Kevin O’Rourke in the Irish Times:
āGetting rid of border controls on trade thus depended on both the European customs union, and the European single market. Norway is a member of the single market but not the customs union, with the result that there are border controls between it and Sweden. The UK and Ireland were members of a customs union before 1993, but not a single market, and the result again was border controls. And unless both Northern Ireland and the Republic retain equivalent regulations regarding both customs duties, and what can be legally bought and sold on their territories, the result will inevitably be border controls.ā
The UK government was already perfectly well aware of this, it had said as much in a position paper in August 2017 as pointed out here in February:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/02/21/the-eu-letter/#comment-920269
Secondly, how could any “temporary” arrangement possibly “solve” the fictitious Irish border problem? There is little prospect of the Irish government resiling from the position they adopted last November, or removing their threat to veto any future EU-UK agreement which would not give them what they want, so what is Theresa May trying to do other than put off the day when they can get what they want in perpetuity?
November 2, 2018
I doubt there is any plan:-
1. To redress the environmental inbalance in the newly to be acquired UK territorial waters, or to monitor it in years to come.
2. To reinvest in the capital equipment required for an expanded fishing industry at sea or on shore. The use of soft loans.
3.For the transport of fish and shell fish to the EU market place. How about Fresh Fish Airways offering a two hour service from UK port shore facility to Berlin, Den Haag, Brussels, Paris, and Madrid. Facetiously, noting what a balls up Ryanair continuously make of transporting people, would they be better suited to dead fish.
4. To expand the Royal Navy’s capacity for fisheries protection.
5. The extent to which we will licence EU vessels to fish in UK territorial waters. Will they have to land at UK fishing ports.
6. To turn the discards into fish fingers, soup or fertilizer
Have the Ministry of Ag/Fish published a comprehensive plan to become operational from April 2019.
November 2, 2018
I understand from Gove’s comments that he does not actually intend for us to take our fishing industry back effectively and to actually be in charge of it. I believe he will merely tinker in order to try to dupe the voters, but he does not fool the people on the front line i.e. the fishermen in this country.
November 2, 2018
Off-topic, the independent Bank of England has announced that it will ask the people to decide which famous person should be featured on a new Ā£50 banknote.
I await my copy of the explanatory leaflet saying:
“This is your decision. The Bank will implement what you decide.”
I also await the clarification that if we make the wrong decision then the Governor of the independent Bank may feel compelled to punish us by raising interest rates.
Some years ago the same Governor readily agreed to create hundreds of billions of new money for the government to spend without being overly concerned about the potential inflationary effects of large scale money printing, but now he is not prepared to take risks with inflation and may take precautionary action even if that leads to a recession.
November 2, 2018
We need many more of these very good reasons as to why there should be no delay to our leaving the EU completely next March as the present strategy of the PM and Hammond is to extend and delay as much as possible in the hope that Brexit will fizzle out. That would be criminal.
The stage management of this is very evident. The budget showing signs of the PM’s statement that austerity is coming to an end and then Hammond supported by the Bank of England stating a ‘no deal’ exit would return us to a recession. Then yesterday the announcement that the NCA is being asked to investigate Aaron Banks’s financial standing coupled by the media suggesting that the referendum could be declared null and void.
This morning we learn that Raab is off to Ireland today bringing all the arguments of the border issue back into the mix supposedly to support Chequers and the PM’s plan to extend the transition period.
Then to crown it all we learn that David Cameron is considering a return to front line politics. So he must think that the Remainers are gaining ground. Heaven forbid that he should ever come back into either House but it does illustrate that his CV is of no interest to business or commerce.
The Leave campaign needs to be re-launched bringing all the opportunities of a March exit back into the headlines. Whilst you do an excellent job you need much more vocal support from your fellow MPs.
Of course we will need a budget in March to ensure we allocate the Ā£39bn to our maximum advantage. We need to balance the importance of trade with gaining back control of our laws money and borders all of which hardly ever gets a mention by the national media. It may be wise to stop being polite from now on
November 2, 2018
Also in other news, a junior minister has resigned because there will be a short delay before her plan for fixed odds betting will be implemented, while other junior ministers are staying in the government and lending their public support to a Prime Minister who is machinating to frustrate their preferred plans for the UK to escape from the thrall of the EU.
November 2, 2018
Apparently, if D Express is to be believed, May is going to bounce Cabinet ministers to accept her deal or resign. Mordaunt, Leadsom, Gove et al, are you just going to confirm your treachery, in my mind, or do something to uphold democracy?
November 3, 2018
Would you rather have a remainer in charge of transport for example? CG stands up to the nonsense abut the aeroplanes dropping out of the sky.
November 2, 2018
Democracy, a system of government, where citizens exercise power by voting.
The UK version of Democracy…a system of government where the citizens exercise power by voting…but are over-ruled if the Government doesn’t agree with the vote.
Where does that leave us?
November 2, 2018
If Chequers is not acceptable all round why doesnāt May admit it and move on. Because it is still her blueprint, no Plan B. This agreement or scion of says we will be a rule taker, leaks re our financial services deal say we will be a rule taker, same with this industry, we will do what we are told dressed up by a massive spin operation to āproveā that May hasnāt gone over her red lines to try and pull wool over our eyes.
Well done to Tracy Crouch. A politician putting principles above career. Shame on McVey, Mordaunt, Gove, Leadsom etc making certain they do not appear disloyal in order to protect their careers, aspirations etc instead of the people they represent.
November 2, 2018
That’s it- as soon as we can become an independent coastal state with full control over our own waters- not so hard to do..out to 12 nautical miles from a baseline around our coast-‘ which is what we had before 1978 when the European fisheries Policy came into being- I think- So it’s not such a big deal and should be easy to assert- and not much point in going on about it. The big problem now is how to get young people back into the boats, and then of course we’ll need a boat building programme, presumably money saved from the 39Biliion can be used for this. Back to the future
November 2, 2018
All these, slightly unrealistic, Tory promises now (39bn to spend, all fishing grounds back, etc.) may increase the sense of betrayal, once a deal is done by the same Torys.
No-deal divorce on 29-3 2019 is a (unlikely) possibility, but even then the reality may fall short of current promises.
November 3, 2018
PvL, We don’t need to, and must not, pay more than we owe. And it is perfectly legal for the UK, as an independent country, to control the resources in our 200nm EEZ.
November 3, 2018
NickC..Not correct the 200 nm out is EEZ waters, ie European Economic Zone which we will not be part of
November 2, 2018
You are one of the few politicians who sees the economic advantages of leaving the EU, most are only capable of seeing the disadvantages.
November 2, 2018
The others are perfectly capable of seeing the advantages, E Pensioner, but they do now wish to broadcast them as they apparently are in hock to the globalists. Mr Redwood, however, is different. He seems principled, honest, and makes arguments based on facts.
November 2, 2018
Re my above comment starting “The others are perfectly capable…” for “now” read “not”.
November 2, 2018
Another example of how the UK is being fleeced.
We will also finally be able to stop the 100 pulse/stun Dutch fishing boats which are still operating in UK waters despite this fishing technique (described as akin to gelignite fishing as it kills everything) being declared illegal by the EU in 1998.
November 2, 2018
Once we are out of the clammy claws of the Brussels controlled, small business demolition team, our fishing folk will again prove their worth to the Nation. At the same time those ports on the Continent that have thrived at the expense of our own fishing fleet will get to learn just how badly we were treated when we unknowingly agreed to this disastrous EU venture. Shame on all of the Politicians who put us through such a dire chapter in the life of a free Britain. Will they ever get punished for it?
November 2, 2018
Mr Redwood
“Leaving the EU next March WOULD provide a big boost to our fishing industry”
Sounds like you are trying to make a case in favour of leaving the EU…again…and that you are starting to doubt if we will leave.
Thought the biggest vote in UK history, instructed the Government to leave the EU.
Be bold!
“Leaving the EU next March WILL provide a big boost to our fishing industry”.
November 2, 2018
JR is a politican. Y0u and the ret of us are like President Trump and are people of the Street who know what is best for us..
November 2, 2018
The rape of our coastal waters was my big motivator to vote Leave, the fact that May is talking about endless transition, during which our waters will be plundered and our fishing industry further decimated reduces me to tears.
Well done Mr Redwood for banging on about the huge opportunity Brexit is for the UK’s fishermen, if only the government were listening.
November 2, 2018
Unfortunately Mr Redwood and his idea’s are not how the current nu Labour leaders of the Conservative party think or act. Furthest left ever. Mass migration unchecked, foreign aid bigger than the shrinking police budget for England and Wales, shrinking armed forces secretly going into PESCO without any parliamentary approval. Political correctness and virtue signalling to cover up major crime and behaviours by some! Tax tax tax to pay for what? Shrinking or non existent public services and free health to the ………world!!
November 2, 2018
Hear, hear, HS.
November 2, 2018
Following the referral of a Leave campaigner to the NCA it should now be obvious to even the most partial of political observers that Leave voters and their backers are under attack by the British political establishment and that all Leave voters deemed to be criminally culpable for their expressing their divine democratic rights
Come on you Tory Eurosceptics. When are you going to stand up and demand action against those responsible for this act of political assassination and the most flagrant attack on our nation’s democracy?
November 2, 2018
Banana republic, Duncan. It is quite disgraceful.
November 3, 2018
Every time I hear about this Ā£8 million I am reminded of the Ā£9 million pound leaflet.
November 2, 2018
All very well but where is the fleet of new boats we will need ?
Over 18 months ago I suggested here that the Government should order a fleet of ships to be built here in the UK and for them to be leased at favourable rates to British skippers as long as they took on board British crew and a percentage of British apprentices.
This hasn’t happened so when we get our waters back we won’t have the boats or crews to fish them properly.
Yet another example of the complete failure of this Government to prepare to exploit the advantages of Brexit. Ordering new boats would have sent a clear message that the Government are serious about taking back our fishing grounds.
I suspect doing nothing has been a deliberate policy : firstly, so as not to annoy Brussels or foreign fishermen, and secondly to ensure that EU boats can be allowed to continue to take the majority of fish as we won’t have the boats.
November 3, 2018
ChrisS, We won’t have enough coastguard and fishery protection vessels either. Again, that is something that could have been started 2 years ago, and for which the government had ample advice and warning.
November 2, 2018
This all sounds great but as with anything EU it appears the govt accept the EU view without question, I bet it will be the same with this.
November 2, 2018
I know you like quoting House of Lords reports.
How about the one on fishing – which points out that much of the fish we eat is imported from the EEA. Whereas much of watch we catch is exported to the EU?
Sadly the fish donāt seem to care very much for territorial waters. They swim where they like – and the ones Britons like to eat donāt swim near Britain. Shame.
Also – you forget to tell fishermen they need to learn from the Scallop Wars. Brexit means other countries take back control of their waters too. Our fishermen will suddenly be excluded from lots of places they like to fish. Ironic.
November 2, 2018
Ditto the EU fishing boats.
We all hope friendship and co operation may develop on both sides
November 3, 2018
Andy, Fishermen do not fish where they “like”, they fish where they are permitted. And why moan about trade in fish? And why assume that Britons can never change their eating habits?
November 2, 2018
As an aside, I see it is a kite is being flown re a return by Cameron. How arrogant is that? This is the guy that allegedly negotiated on our behalf, came back with nothing albeit spun it like a success, lost the Referendum despite dragooning umpteen foreign dignitaries to support his totally bogus project fear then walked out when he lost.
Please tell him and his supporters that his stock is not quite as low as Blair but certainly not something that I will ever invest in again.
November 2, 2018
He is bored out of his mind apparently, if newspaper reports are to be believed. That would seem to provide yet more evidence to me that this lazy and arrogant individual was never fit to be PM. It is not a position for your idle amusement, Mr Cameron. Your reported sense of entitlement is sick making.
November 3, 2018
How can you not prefer him to what we’ve got at the moment? He wasn’t an inveterate liar; he wasn’t a manipulator; he wasn’t disloyal; he confided in the Cabinet; he was Prime Ministerial; he wasn’t deliberately working to betray his country. He believed in the family and he loved his country.
If only he had prepared for Brexit; if only he had stayed above the fray during the referendum campaign. Then he could have appointed a cross party Brexit Cabinet and really gone for it, with Mr Redwood as Chancellor.
November 2, 2018
Also off-topic, I read this in CityAM today:
“Senior European business leaders tell May to extend Brexit transition”
These are members of the European Round Table of Industrialists:
https://www.ert.eu/
Doubtless Theresa May will give the views of those “55 Chief Executives and Chairmen of major multinational companies of European parentage” far more weight than the views of 17.4 million British plebs who voted to leave the EU, and she will do her utmost to comply with what they want:
“A future EU-UK partnership must have uninterrupted and frictionless flow of goods, such as with a customs union, and create a stable and fair regulatory environment. Regulatory divergence is unhelpful and costly given the interdependence of the EU-UK supply chains. A longer transition period should be considered.”
Of course she will agree that it should be extended, if she can get away with it; in fact she would like it to be extended indefinitely, indeed she would still prefer to drop the whole idea of leaving the EU, the Lancaster House speech been around the pinnacle of her faux euroscepticism, since when she has been gradually, slyly, backtracking.
Incidentally the 6.8 million workers employed by those companies come to about 3% of the total number of workers across the EU.
November 3, 2018
Denis
These are some of the people I keep banging on about. Small in numbers they may be, but very powerful. Do not underestimate them.
November 2, 2018
It’s never too late to learn unless…you are a Remoaner
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-46070239
November 2, 2018
Not only the fishing industry, apparently.
Web site āāHomes and Propertyāā headline a couple of days ago – ”Brexit news latest: London house prices tipped to bounce back after Britain leaves the EU.” It continues:
āāPositive economic indicators underpin the optimistic housing outlook contributing to today’s housing market forecast, which predicts 14.3 per cent house price growth across the wider Greater London area in the next five years….āā
November 2, 2018
I hear that they want nominations for a scientist to put on the new Ā£50 Note.
Perhaps John Redwood can nominate the late Mrs Thatcher.
She was a scientist, and invented Ice Cream with air pumped into it to make it go further.
Failing that, put her on the Brexit 50p coin. Preferably on both sides.
November 2, 2018
“Leaving the EU next March would provide a big boost to our fishing industry”
Yes, we would have one, again
November 2, 2018
Vince Cable is in the Scottish newspapers telling everyone Guiness will run out in the event of Brexit.
lol
November 2, 2018
Worse. he meant whisky. Wrong country. A…..Libdim
November 2, 2018
The liar, cheat, hypocrite and traitor Theresa May sent the weasel David Lidington to Dublin to finalise her capitulation, but the Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney says the UK must make more concessions before a formal instrument of surrender can be drafted:
https://www.ft.com/content/7cac4c50-dec6-11e8-9f04-38d397e6661c?kbc=6b683eff-56c3-43d9-acfc-7511d974fc01
“Brexit negotiators āvery closeā to Ireland border agreement”
Early next week, they hope, then maybe on Tuesday ministers will be told “This is the deal, you can like it or lump it, and if you really can’t lump it the door’s over there”, and none of them, not one, will have the integrity to get up and go out through it.
JR, I don’t know how you can bear to be in the same party as these people.
November 2, 2018
Totally agree. Who could ever trust a future Conservative Party again, with so few who actually have Conservative values or opinions! How do you know when Ms May is lying…………when she opens her mouth and everyone out here knows it!
Woolaston, Grieve, Soubery and the rest are just liberal leftists.
What about the so called Brexit Ministers? Charlatans!
November 2, 2018
I think he cannot believe it, (the behaviour of May et al) but Mr Redwood does not seem prepared to actually act on his principles, only to talk, write and give speeches. That is the impression given to many ordinary voters, Mr Redwood, and it is a tragedy for this country.
November 3, 2018
The Brexit ministers have been frozen out. Look how she has just sent Lidington to bow the knee to Southern Ireland and the EU, while Ollie Robbins is doing the same thing in Brussels.
November 2, 2018
JR
Correct me if I’m wrong, but did Theresa May recently capitulate our fishing grounds to the EU ?
I may be mistaken, but I have it in my mind there was some kind of ‘deal’ not so long ago.
November 2, 2018
It would be easier to make a list of the things that she has not capitulated on, and it would be very short indeed.
November 3, 2018
Steve, Read the Chequers executive summary for insight into Theresa May’s aim of “sharing … fishing opportunities” with the EU. The only reason that the EU has, for the present, notionally rejected Chequers is because they want even more. So the Chequers concessions are baked in. The eventual agreement will not be called Chequers but is likely to be worse. Unless Mrs May is removed.
November 2, 2018
It’s not too late to Remain if prominent Leavers tell us it is best.
Don’t let this be driven by ego.
November 3, 2018
Anon 8:21pm, So what drives your Remain beliefs? Ego?
November 3, 2018
I am a Leaver.
November 2, 2018
If we were not in the EU, would a British PM come back from Brussels saying āIāve just completed negotiations with the EU and the deal is :
1) We will pay them Ā£20bn/year (Ā£15bn loss of control and Ā£10bn/net).
2) We will import Ā£80bn/year more goods than we export to them.
3) We will agree to unlimited immigration although England is the most densely populated major country in Europe and we are struggling to provide enough hospital and school places.
4) We will give them access to our fishing grounds with us taking the smaller share.
5) We will agree to abide by laws and regulations made by people we do not elect and cannot remove.
6) We will agree to trade with the rest of the world on terms and tariffs set by the EU even though they may not be to our benefit ?ā
If not, why do the remainers keep saying that it is impossible to get a deal that is as good as the one we have now ?
November 2, 2018
Right on John..don’t know why you even bother when you can see the way things are going..in a week or two it will be announced..a new deal for UK that will leave Britain half in half out and NI as as special area inside the EU..great for the NI farmers they will still get the CAP payments..the fisheries and other British things will be redone as a fudge but it really won’ matter nor will it change things very much..and all of this..and all of these comments over the past two years..a complete waste of time and effort..at the end of the day you will have to agree
November 3, 2018
Rights to fish in UK waters do not belong to any Tom Dick and Harry (including British Nationals) who choose to demand a share of whatever we decide the total ration might be.
The Rights, like Oil Gas and other things belong to the UK as whole.
Five year fishing quota licences should be auctioned off to the highest bidder like any other scarce resource which the UK owns, so raising the most money we can from them.
If the highest bidders are foreign so be it. The proceeds of the sale are a nice invisible export for us.
We don’t demand that the purchasers of Broadcasting Licences, Mobile Phone Networks, Oil and Gas Rights, leases on Office Blocks, beneficiaries of water supply monopolies etc etc etc, must live in Grimsby, so why should we demand that people living in Grimsby be given our fishing rights for nothing?
November 3, 2018
Just to recap a few points which Imade earlier but have since disappeared:
The fishing rights were handed out to the fishermen of every nation affected by EU policies. But our fishermen chose to sell them on to make a quick profit and damn the future prosperity of the industry.
Countries like Spain saw the advantages of a healthy fishing industry and snapped them up. It was caused by greedy short sightedness not EU chicanery.
EU fishing policy also stopped the near destruction of the cod fishing industry in our waters. Cod is now making a recovery thanks to EU enlightened policies.
In case people still romanticise our fishing industry prior our EU membership:
We fought 3 ‘Cod Wars’ against Iceland in the 1950’s which we lost doing tremendous harm to our industry and destroying many businesses.
November 3, 2018
Has my comment posted yesterday at 0928 dropped off the to-do-list or have I made an unacceptable statement?
November 3, 2018
The latter? Often happens. Democracy only when it suits!
November 3, 2018
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-44712254
I read this BBC remain analysis as more of the same is proposed by our conserve as much the eu as present pm – a new meaning on Conservative .
November 3, 2018
I am sure i vaguely remember TM rushing to make a deal to safeguard uk waters for the eu in case of a full brexit?