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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I would welcome the Minister’s response on this section in the Bill. As a former Defra Minister, he knows very well what goes on in discussions in the channels across the water. The countries that he named as sympathetic, or as sharing similar aspirations to ours, did not include France. France clearly has a very different view on protecting its farming and agricultural industry, or it certainly did in years past. How does the Minister think the European Parliament will overcome that particular problem? The representatives there will be equally difficult and will rightly be fighting for their own farmers. That is not for us because we have gone down a different route. However, France is a big player among the other countries. I apologise to Members of the Committee; as I have not been participating in the debates I have not heard the earlier discussions on fisheries. One of the problems with the fisheries policy is that although there has been review after review, every time a committee in this House or the other place comes up with recommendation, nothing happens, or at least nothing successful. So we still have loads of discards. Is the Minister confident that the proposals in the treaty will achieve this, or will we continue to go down that particular route? It is a very unsatisfactory route and has not improved much over the years. There is still abuse out there and not much being held to account. May I also ask the Minister—