Robert Oulds

The announcement by the European Union, on Tuesday 4th December, to once again cut back the quotas that fishermen are allowed to catch will finally kill-off what was once a thriving source of employment in the UK’s coastal communities. This has been happening with the complicit agreement of successive governments who have allowed these waters to be continually and comprehensively over-fished by our European Competitors.

It does not have to be this way. The North Sea, which once ranked amongst the richest waters in the world, was once, under international law, Britain’s national fishing waters and it can be a great asset once again if only our government would take back control from the European Union and end the Common Fisheries Policy.

Moreover, there is no legal justification for this policy and the handing over of our waters to Brussels control is just one of the numerous costs of membership of the European Union that this country is being continually asked to make.

Yet the worst aspect of the devastation forced upon Britain’s fishing fleet is that our own government is enforcing Brussels’ policies.