PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
COMPENSATION FOR TRAWLERMEN (6 April 1998)

That this House recognises the injustice done to the three thousand British trawlermen who lost their jobs when the British fishing fleet was withdrawn from Iceland in 1976, and remembering that at the time they were promised compensation, retaining, special help and new jobs by Ministers and Opposition spokespeople, all of which would have been forthcoming, as they were to other workers, had it been recognised then as the High Court has now ruled that trawlermen were in fact employed, and not casual workers; notes that over ú30 million pounds worth of compensation was handed to the owners but not a penny to the fishermen; urges Her Majesty's Government to do justice to these brave fishermen who risked life and limb fishing in dangerous waters only to lose their jobs, their futures, their pension rights and their industry through no fault of their own; commends the decision of the Minister of State at the Department of Employment and the Parliamentary Secretary at the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to consider the compensation claim put forward by the British Fishermen's Association; and further urges Her Majesty's Government to right this wrong and fulfil the promises held out to the trawlermen in 1976 as amatter of retrospective justice to those devoted trawlermen who served their industry and their country so well, but who were so unjustly treated.

Sponsored by:
Austin Mitchell (Labour)