European Union (Amendment) Bill

If I may carry on; the noble Lord has had his say, so perhaps he would sit still for a moment. The common fisheries policy provides the mechanisms for doing that, so our case is that even if there were no such policy, we would have to invent something like it. We have to co-operate with those countries that share the fish stocks with us, and as a member of the EU we can, and do, negotiate improvements to the policy. Where there are problems with the common fisheries policy, the answer is to negotiate improvements to it, as we did in the common fisheries policy reform of December 2002, and as we continue to do. The noble Duke asked which processes will decide the arrangements up to six miles and on six to 12-mile limits, and whether the UK derogation would stay. We will be consulting on common fisheries policy reform, which will be dealt with by ordinary legislative procedure.