Maritime Manifesto: The Labour Party

Former NUMAST Council member and Dover MP Gwyn Prosser outlines Labour's maritime policies...

I’ve sailed on ferries, ro-ros and deepsea cargo ships but I first went to sea as a BP cadet in 1960 when our merchant fleet was expanding and the red ensign dominated the seven seas.

Then came the painful years of decline — and the consequent loss of seafarer jobs. As an active member of the NUMAST Council, I worked with colleagues to reverse the flagging fortunes of British shipping.

Under the Tories the decline accelerated and they showed little understanding or interest in this vital sector. They had no appreciation of the impact on seafarers’ jobs and they lacked the political will to intervene.

All that changed in 1997 with the election of a Labour government, and as the new MP representing Dover, I was part of the broad campaign pressing to put shipping at the top of Labour’s policy agenda. Within months we published our White Paper ‘British Shipping — Charting a New Course’ and the tonnage tax was launched.

The new measures stopped the decline and created a resurgence of the red duster. Lord Sterling, the former adviser to Mrs Thatcher, famously said: ‘This Labour government has done more for our merchant fleet in its first 18 months than the Conservatives did in 18 years.’

It’s is vital Britain has a government that believes in the importance of shipping and builds on that success. That means keeping the tonnage tax in place and safeguarding UK seafarers’ special income tax rules that recognise the unique circumstances of a life at sea.

But there’s more to do and that’s why I’ve recently led a delegation to meet the prime minister to progress our joint campaign for more employment of UK seafarers and extra training places. This led to Gordon Brown instigating a cross-departmental initiative designed to boost education and training for seafarers and ensure the maritime sector is a key part of the new drive for a modern apprenticeship system.

Our manifesto commits a Labour government to fairness at work for all employees. Seafarers are at the sharp end of a totally globalised industry and as such the maritime industry needs laws that protect seafarers from exploitative and rogue employers. We want to ensure that we make work more fulfilling and secure while driving for ever higher standards at sea and protection for decent employers who play fair and don’t erode conditions.

We also need to strive at international level through the IMO, ILO and the EU to clamp down on substandard shipping. This means a robust port state control regime enforced internationally and ever higher flag state implementation.

Seafarers work in a challenging and unforgiving safety environment. Pressures to cut standards must be resisted. As the chairman of the Parliamentary Ports & Maritime Group I want to see a well resourced Maritime & Coastguard Agency. I know the excellent work done by MCA staff — not only in search and rescue — but also in the key areas of inspection, enforcement and implementation. This includes the vexed issues of fatigue and crew competence.

The growing menace of piracy also needs a robust response. That means a strong naval presence, and the nations of the world need to work together to improve the security of merchant seafarers near danger zones. The Labour manifesto commits Britain to a strong navy. Working with NATO and other partners, anti-piracy should form part of the modern role of the Navy.

Ports are vital to a modern transport system and part of the nation’s infrastructure. They need to have a structure that enables long term investment and avoids the risk of short term and short sighted ‘sell offs’. The planning system should also ensure that working port facilities are not sold off to speculators for non marine use.

Labour is committed to offshore wind power and the spin-offs for the maritime industry and for more employment opportunities for British seafarers are immense. I believe the boost in jobs — afloat and ashore — will match the offshore sector experience when oil was discovered in the North Sea.

Shipping activity has suffered during the global downturn, but Labour has taken the right actions to stop the recession becoming a depression. Unemployment is falling, the markets are rising and growth is returning but the recovery would be choked off if we were to adopt the immediate deep cuts advocated by the Tories.

Labour is committed to securing the recovery. As the economy grows so will the fleet and so will the number of job opportunities for British seafarers.