Speech: PM meeting with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg: 10 May 2017

Welcome to Downing Street, it’s very good to have the opportunity to talk again in advance of the leaders’ meeting at the end of this month. I really wanted to confirm, and reaffirm, the commitment that the UK has to NATO. We see it as the bedrock of UK security and we are pleased to be playing the role that we are in the alliance.

At the moment we have a number of commitments – nearly 1,000 troops in Estonia and Poland and the RAF Typhoons in the Black Sea as part of that project there. We very much consider it important here in the UK that we spend 2% of our GDP on defence and also meet the 20% on equipment commitment as well.

And obviously as we look ahead to the leaders’ discussions, there will be a number of issues, including encouraging others to play their role in terms of the support for NATO. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to talk to you about these and other issues that are on the agenda.

Thank you so much Prime Minister, thank you for welcoming me back to Downing Street. I am really looking forward to discussing with you our preparations for the upcoming meeting of NATO leaders in Brussels on May 25. There are two topics on the agenda – burden sharing and fighting terrorism, and the UK is leading by example on both these fronts.

When it comes to burden sharing, you spend 2% of GDP on defence, I welcome that very much and hope your allies are starting to increase also their resonance in defence. But you also contribute in many other ways. You are now leading our multi-national battalion in Estonia. You are the lead nation for our high readiness force and you are in the skies through the Royal Air Force in the Black Sea region, providing policing.

So when it comes to burden sharing and contributing to our shared security, you are really a lead nation and I thank you for that. Also when it comes to fighting terrorism, I very much appreciate the contributions from the UK. You have been in Afghanistan for many, many years together with NATO allies.

We will address our presence in Afghanistan at the leaders’ meeting but we will also address what more NATO can do to step up its efforts to fight international terrorism, including providing support to the counter-Isil coalition. And I strongly believe that the best thing you can do to fight against terrorism is to train local forces, enabling them to stabilise their own country and to fight terrorism themselves.

So there are many important issues on the agenda and we are looking forward to welcoming you to Brussels. So thank you.

Notice: E15 2PH, Regional Waste Recycling (Commercial) Limited: environmental permit issued

The Environment Agency publish permits that they issue under the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).

This decision includes the permit and decision document for:

Operator name: Regional Waste Recycling (Commercial) Limited
Installation name: Barbers Road Facility
Permit number: EPR/JP3596NH/V010

News story: Car parts merger faces in-depth investigation

Euro Car Parts’ buyout of Andrew Page faces an in-depth merger probe, unless it offers acceptable ways of addressing competition concerns.

The companies both supply car parts to independent garages across the UK, and the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) initial investigation found that they compete closely with each other.

The CMA believes that the merger could significantly reduce competition in a number of local areas, as well as for some large customers which purchase car parts on a national basis.

Euro Car Parts therefore has until 17 May to offer proposals to resolve the competition concerns. If it does not offer undertakings, or if the CMA is unable to accept undertakings offered, the merger will be referred for an in-depth phase 2 investigation.

Press release: £7,195 fine for fisheries offences in case brought by MMO

On 2 May 2017 S & P Trawlers (JACABEN) Limited, owner of the stern trawler Cerulean NN722, and its master Marcus White pleaded guilty to breaches of the Sea Fish (Conservation) Act 1967 and the Fisheries Act 1981 at Barnstaple Magistrates Court.

The court heard how, during investigations including inspections of local fish merchants carried out by the MMO in 2015, it was identified that in July the Cerulean declared squid catches in their fishing vessel logbook when in fact no squid had been landed. Instead the actual catch for July was 2448.7kg of bass, some 648.7kg over the monthly limit of 1800kg. Two days following discovery of the error the vessel master contacted MMO to attempt to correct the error.

In August the Cerulean’s logbook recorded a catch of 230kg of bass but on inspection by Marine Officers, the actual weight of bass landed was 367.5kg. This was an under-recording of 59.7%

The vessel owner S and P Trawlers (JACABEN) Limited were fined £3,200, with additional costs of £1,175 and a victim surcharge of £170.

The vessel master Marcus White was fined £1,500 with additional costs of £1,000 and a victim surcharge of £150.

A spokesman for the MMO said:

“In this case Marine Officers’ inspections of local fish merchants and of the vessel itself revealed clear misreporting of the species and quantities of fish landed.

“The fact that the fish in question was sea bass, a species which not only commands a high market value but is also under severe pressure from potential overfishing and is, therefore, subject to increasing levels of regulation, was clearly an aggravating feature of these offences.

“The MMO recognises that the vast majority of fishermen operate lawfully and in compliance with regulations which exist to protect fisheries from overfishing and are in place to ensure healthy, sustainable fisheries for this and future generations of fishermen. In the rare instances that non-compliance is detected, we use a risk-based enforcement strategy and operate a graduated and proportionate system of sanctions, with prosecution reserved for the most serious offences.”