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Merchant Shipping (Pollution) Bill [Lords]

It is of course right to establish appropriate regimes to compensate for accidents and incidents such as those that the hon. Gentleman is describing, but is he concerned that almost three quarters of all tanker incidents are either accidents by collision and contact, or are due to machinery problems? A substantial number of foreign-flagged vessels are involved in tanker accidents—I am thinking of the Bahamas, Norway, Gibraltar, Liberia and Malta—so would we not be equally well served by pressing for improvements in the quality of the maintenance and operation of foreign-flagged vessels in British waters, as well as compensating for some of the errors that they have made?