
No, I am not referring to the much-hyped prime minister's questions, but an event shortly afterwards, that will be almost totally ignored by the popular media. This is the annual debate on fishing policy which precedes the December EU fisheries council.

This is the policy that was first introduced by William Hague, refined by Iain Duncan-Smith and then brought to its final form in a letter from Michael Howard on 10 June 2004, when he declared that:
We are determined that the next Conservative government will establish national and local control over fishing. We intend to raise this in the Council of Ministers at the first opportunity and I believe we can achieve this through negotiation. However, should negotiations not succeed, it remains the case… that the British Parliament is supreme and we would introduce the necessary legislation to bring about full national and local control.This declaration was given clothes by a detailed opposition green paper, launched on 10 January 2005 and, as of last night, still on the Conservative Party website, although probably not for very much longer.

For those Tories who voted for the man and who are now braying for a change in the Party, they are going to get it – sooner than they think. But it is not only change they will get, but the death of a policy. With that will go the last, best hope of the British fishing industry.
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