UK Fisheries Policy Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Dan Poulter
Main Page: Dan Poulter (Labour - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)Department Debates - View all Dan Poulter's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(6 years, 2 months ago)
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Dr Dan Poulter (Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) (Con)
There is a tension between having devolved matters in fishing and agriculture and a UK approach to trade. Does the Minister agree that there needs to be some reconciliation of that tension? How does he propose to deal with that?
George Eustice
Fisheries negotiations are international, so they are a UK competence, but we always take members of the devolved Administrations with us as part of our delegation. Trade and fisheries are both UK competences, but I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for South East Cornwall that they should be kept separate.
We have a huge trade deficit in food with the European Union. A sensible basis for the discussion is that we will buy its food, if it buys ours. However, the difference in fish is not as big as some envisage, although we have a trade surplus. We export just over £1 billion of fish to the EU, but we import just short of £1 billion.
My hon. Friend the Member for North Cornwall mentioned the issue of spider crabs and promoting other fish species. A levy body called Seafish is responsible for that.