Austin Mitchell
Fishermen's Compensation Claims
The MPs for the three main distant water fleets came away from their meeting with Andrew Smith, Chief Secretary to the Treasury hopeful for the prospects of the claim for compensation payments for distant water trawlermen, which they are pursuing in conjunction with the British Fishermen's Association.
"These were constructive talks" said Shona McIsaac who arranged the meeting between Andrew Smith and the delegation comprising herself, Austin Mitchell, Joan Humble and Alan Johnson. "We received a fair hearing for our case and came out cheered" she added.
Inevitably the Chief Secretary gave no indication of his reaction to the overall case. However the two sponsoring departments, MAFF and the DTI have made favourable recommendations on the claim and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair is also sympathetic.
Austin Mitchell commented "Andrew Smith needed to know the exact scale and parameters of the claim so we talked about eligibility criteria, the ease of record checking and the limited number of fishermen involved in a claim which is concerned with fulfilling the promises of the then Labour government in 1976 for compensation to the fishermen. It gave over £100 million compensation to the owners for the loss of Icelandic fishing opportunities. It is now time that the fishermen are given what they're owed."
The MPs for the three main distant water fleets of Grimsby, Hull and Fleetwood met with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to discuss the claim for compensation payments earlier today at the Treasury. The MPs present were: for Grimsby and Cleethorpes, Austin Mitchell and Shona McIsaac, for Hull, Alan Johnson and for Fleetwood, Joan Humble.
