Maritime Manifesto: The Conservatives

Julian Brazier, who served as Opposition shipping spokesman before the election, gives the Conservatives' maritime manifesto...

Anybody connected to the shipping industry knows that British maritime professionals are regarded as among the finest in the world. Our officers have the highest levels of skill and professionalism.

Sadly, despite being an island nation, the majority of British people remain unaware of shipping’s profound importance to our way of life. Shipping and its ancillary services and industries make up the UK’s third biggest industry, moving 95% of UK’s visible trade by weight. Careers in the sector offer a myriad of fulfilling and rewarding opportunities.

A vibrant shipping and ports sector, with a skilled and dedicated body of men and women at its heart, is literally vital for Britain.

Conservatives fully endorse the tonnage tax and have no plans to stop or radically alter the regime. This government deserves credit for its introduction, but that doesn’t excuse the growing litany of recent mistakes and failures.

First amongst these has been the backdated business rates debacle. Hundreds of businesses in ports across the country were suddenly hit with backdated rates bills totalling £124m, out of the blue and during the depths of the recession.

David Cameron, Caroline Spellman, Bob Neil and I have visited ports across the country to talk first hand to businessmen and women trying to do the best for their companies and employees in the face of this entirely preventable crisis. Despite the pleas of the businesses and opposition from all political sides, including their own backbenches, the bills have been issued, albeit in instalments, and two companies have already gone bust.

An incoming Conservative government will freeze all the relevant rate demands, and set up an inquiry. The rise in light dues has hit the struggling sector hard. At a time of extreme economic difficulty, particularly for shipping, government must minimise potential additional costs which might harm employment.

Back in 2004 Labour promised to tackle the UK’s subsidising of Eire’s light dues, but progress has been painfully slow. So a Conservative government will look at ways of accelerating the Irish contribution and bringing forward the draft legislation which would give more commercial freedom to the General Lighthouse Authorities (GLA), helping to defray costs.

Looking at the welfare of individual seafarers, the National Minimum Wage makes an important contribution to social justice in modern Britain. But its application to non-domiciled merchant seamen will simply result in ships re-registering under a foreign flag to avoid the increased labour costs. This would remove them from the jurisdiction of the UK completely — thereby removing all employee welfare provisions for those British citizens serving upon them — and might well lead to a sharp rise in the number of ships registered in countries with poor safety records. The key to increasing and safe-
guarding employment is not raising the cost of foreign labour but finding ways to improve financial support for the training of officers and ratings. It is disgraceful that the government has been sitting on proposals put forward by the Chamber of Shipping, Nautilus and the RMT for over two years, without taking any action. I have been working with my colleague John Hayes, shadow minister for further and higher education, the Chamber of Shipping and the Merchant Navy Training Board, to see whether this might be fundable through our apprenticeship proposals. Conservatives are committed to a huge expansion in apprenticeships and John and I are keen to make it happen, providing various awkward EU hurdles can be overcome.

But funding is only half the story. The Conservative Party is committed to improving careers services and one of the things we need to do is make sure youngsters are aware of careers at sea at an early stage, so they can pick the right GCSEs to keep the option open.

Tackling piracy is another key issue. I was very impressed with the new Royal Navy-led EU task-force when I visited its HQ at Northwood. The number of attacks in the Red Sea has plummeted but some of the activity has transferred round the Horn of Africa, resulting in more attacks off East Africa. The key to further progress lies in persuading more countries in the region to try and imprison pirates (currently only Kenya and the Seychelles) and getting other European countries, who benefit but do not currently contribute, to do so.

There is a great deal to do. This is a tremendous industry but it needs to sell itself better to the public and deserves more attention from government.