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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

Irony indeed, my Lords. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, has a strong suit in irony. I shall stick to the plain narrative and thank my noble friends the Duke of Montrose and Lord Cathcart for their support in this scrutiny, as indeed I thank the Back Benches which have been behind me. It is appropriate to mention my late friend Lord Kingsland’s work on the Bill. He was at his very best in probing, searching out and focusing all our minds on the relevant issues. I think that he would have had a bit of fun with this amendment, because it is not usual for this House to be much in favour of enabling powers. The Minister has been cautious in the way in which he has presented his case for these powers. However, the success of this marine conservation legislation cannot allow for damage to be done to the marine environment and a defence continued purely on the grounds of precedent. It may well be that this is the best solution for dealing with this matter when the common fisheries policy is reformed. When does the Minister think that that might be? How long will this clause be there to be used and how long will the Marine and Coastal Access Act, as it will become, have to operate while tolerating the fishing defence? I would be grateful for his opinion on this matter, although I understand that he can never be certain in his assessment. I think that I have said enough on the issue.