British Open Register (Flag Of Convenience)

EDM number 197 in 1993-94, proposed by Joan Walley on 07/12/1993.

That this House recognises the strategic, economic, employment and environmental implications of a healthy British merchant fleet; welcomes the publication of the Employment Select Committee's report, the Future of Maritime Skills and Employment (HC(1992-93)924); recognises that safer shipping, a British merchant fleet, and recruitment and training of British seafarers go hand in hand; considers that the Baltic Exchange's proposals submitted to the Secretary of State for Transport for a British Open Register (Flag of Convenience) will undermine safety of life at sea, threaten the environment, devalue the British presence on international shipping bodies such as IMO, and will accelerate the decline of the British merchant fleet; calls upon the Secretary of State for Transport to reject outright the Trojan horse of the proposed British Open Register; and calls upon the Government to consider with all maritime interest groups, including those who submitted evidence to the Employemnt Select Committee on the future of maritime skills and employment, the immediate implementation of a strategy for the survival and long term profitability of the British maritime economy.

This motion has been signed by a total of 139 MPs, 3 of these signatures have been withdrawn.