Plenary, 10 Dec 2003

Meeting date: Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Official Report 422KB pdf

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Parliamentary Bureau Motion

The next item of business is consideration of a parliamentary bureau motion. I ask Patricia Ferguson to move motion S2M-717, on the approval of a Scottish statutory instrument.

Motion moved,

That the Parliament agrees that The Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning) (West Coast) (No.11) (Scotland) Order 2003 (SSI 2003/561) be approved.—[Patricia Ferguson.]

Mr Brocklebank wishes to speak; please be brief.

It should come as no surprise to members that the Conservatives believe that banning scallop fishing on health grounds that are spurious, to say the least, has had a hugely damaging effect on the economies of our coastal communities. However, as the various orders have been rolled out, closing yet further scallop fishing areas, we have chosen not to oppose them unilaterally. The SSIs are technical in nature and, in any case, we had hoped that the Executive might eventually be persuaded that end-product testing of scallops was the way ahead rather than blanket bans.

It has become apparent that certain individuals or groups have sought to misconstrue or misrepresent our technical acquiescence on the matter in the chamber. For the record, we remain totally opposed to blanket bans on scallop fishing and, henceforward, we will vote against SSIs on amnesic shellfish poisoning as and when they come before the chamber.

The arguments for such orders have been well rehearsed in the chamber and members are well versed in the issues that surround them. The orders are predicated on consumer safety and public health and the issues are no different today from what they have been in the past.

We are taking a responsible approach, which avoids the laissez-faire attitude that has destroyed proud and successful industries too often in the past. Our beef industry was destroyed by a similar approach to the one that the Conservatives advocate and we are determined to avoid that in this situation. The scallop industry is successful and enjoys worldwide recognition and the measures are designed to protect it.

The question on the motion will be put at decision time.