Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, for his last two comments, which were masterly. I will merely appropriate them as my principal defence for these amendments: that the wisdom of the Commons should prevail. They think that we have got the right balance in the Bill between the two very important concepts of marine conservation and the fishing industry, whose interests we need to take very seriously indeed. I appreciate what the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, said about the late Lord Kingsland’s significant contribution to our deliberations in this area. We are all grateful for it; it helped to clarify our thinking. Whether it clarified that thinking enough for conjecture about the future to be possible is a different matter altogether. I cannot remember Lord Kingsland pushing the boat out too far in that regard and therefore, remaining true to that tradition, I will not be too exposed in a prediction about the common fisheries policy. The noble Lord, Lord Taylor, invited me to consider when there would be any reform and when we would thus be able to make adjustments to it. We shall press for reform, of course, in particular with regard to conservation issues. However, I might almost be forgiven for saying that we have more fish to fry. We have many more serious issues to address in terms of the common fisheries policy. I was asked when we are likely to see the outcome. We all hope to see progress in the not too distant future, but I cannot be too precise on how successful we will be and in which terms. Indeed, I shall not venture much further than what I have said already in these general remarks. However, what I am saying is this. We need to take account of the possibility or even the likelihood of change, and that is what this provision is all about. It creates a contingency framework where we can act as and when we are successful and changes are made to the common fisheries policy. I want to be a little more definitive on one or other points. There is a timescale to the fisheries reform of 2012, but while I do not doubt that revisions will take place, I cannot venture to talk about their nature and extent. The House will recognise that I am bound to be shy of speaking too strongly in those terms. However, I can be a bit more definitive on the question of the noble Lord, Lord Wallace: will the offences apply to non-UK vessels? They certainly will once fisheries reform agrees that that should be the case. That, after all, is a cardinal point of reform of the common fisheries policy, so we can at least be confident about that. We are certainly confident enough to make contingency arrangements in the Bill to give effect to constructive positions once we have adopted—