Transport – in the House of Commons at on 10 October 2024.
Alistair Carmichael
Chair, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Chair, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
What discussions she has had with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on maritime safety breaches which occur outside UK territorial waters but within the exclusive economic zone.
Mike Kane
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State has met the chief executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and this matter was discussed. The MCA will continue to monitor this important issue, as well as follow up on the actions already taken since the Westminster Hall debate on maritime safety last April.
Alistair Carmichael
Chair, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Chair, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
If we continue to see this as a matter of legality, nothing will ever change, and certainly not in any decent timeframe. We have to focus on what we can do practically to end the sort of attacks that trawlers from Shetland, such as the Alison Kay and Defiant, have been subject to in recent years. Will the Minister look at the experience of authorities in Ireland, who have managed to tackle the reckless conduct of trawlers like the Pesorsa Dos and keep their fishermen safe?
Mike Kane
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I will undertake to look at the authorities in Ireland. I had a recent visit to the Orkney Islands in the right hon. Member’s Constituency. I would wish to catch up with him about that and I am happy to meet him to discuss this matter further.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
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In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
