LOCAL LIB DEM EURO MP OPPOSES PLAN TO GIVE EU MONEY TO BUILD NEW BOATS

2.44.02pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 5th Jul 2005

MEPs are likely to vote tomorrow Wednesday 6 July to allow EU funding to be directed towards the building of new fishing vessels, despite a decision in 2002 to phase-out the practice by the end of 2004.

Local Lib Dem Euro MP Diana Wallis, expressed her frustration that EU money is not being spent in a much more environmentally friendly way:

"It is not appropriate that Ministers and MEPs from some parts of Europe want to turn the clock back and allow millions of Euros to be used for the building of new boats especially as we are trying to make the Common Fisheries Policy much more environmentally responsible."

She went on to say: " EU fisheries funding has never been used for this purpose in the UK - and it should be used, for example, to help those who have been forced out of the sector, for various reasons, to re-train in other professions and to safeguard the future of coastal fishing communities.

"I join my Lib Dem colleagues in challenging Ben Bradshaw to use his position as President of the Council of Fisheries Ministers over the next six months to broker a compromise that reflects the need to protect both our communities and our seas."