The Government has launched formal consultations with the EU, in an effort to end persistent delays to the UK’s access to EU scientific research programmes, including Horizon Europe. Formal consultations is a mechanism set out in the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) to resolve disputes between the UK and EU.

The UK negotiated access to a range of EU science and innovation programmes as part of the TCA in 2020. However, more than 18 months later, the EU has still refused to finalise UK access, causing serious damage to research and development in both the UK and EU Member States.

The delays have prevented the UK from accessing Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation, as well as Copernicus, the earth observation programme, which provides data on climate change. Other affected schemes include Euratom – the nuclear research programme – and access to programme services including Space Surveillance and Tracking.

Now the Government has written to the European Commission to launch dispute resolution proceedings and to encourage the EU to abide by their obligations in the deal.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said:

The EU is in clear breach of our agreement, repeatedly seeking to politicise vital scientific cooperation by refusing to finalise access to these important programmes. We cannot allow this to continue. That is why the UK has now launched formal consultations and will do everything necessary to protect the scientific community.

Minister for Europe Graham Stuart said:

It is disappointing that the EU has not facilitated UK participation in the agreed scientific programmes, despite extensive UK engagement on the issue. Now more than ever the UK and the EU should be working together to tackle our shared challenges from net zero to global health and energy security. We look forward to constructive engagement through the formal consultations.

UK membership of Horizon Europe would be a win-win for both the UK and EU. The UK is a world leader in science and technology, houses some of the most research intensive universities in the world and led the global effort to combat Covid-19. The UK has set aside around £15bn for Horizon Europe alone.

The EU’s research and innovation community has been calling on the European Commission to associate the UK to these programmes. The UK Government also continues to seek association so that collective work to solve the greatest economic and societal challenges can continue.

In the event that association is not formalised, the government has prepared an alternative set of programmes to support UK scientists and researchers: Supporting UK R&D and collaborative research beyond European programmes.

The UK Government is ready to work together with the European Commission to resolve this issue and looks forward to constructive engagement during consultations.

Two men have been prosecuted at South Tyneside Magistrates Court today (Tuesday 16th August) after photographs and videos found both on a mobile and posted to a social media account highlighted illegal fishing activity

Connor Bell (30), of Bexhill Road, Sunderland appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates Court Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 26th July, where he pleaded guilty to using unlicensed gill nets to catch salmon and sea trout on the River Wear, including at a location near Fatfield, in the county of Tyne and Wear. At a hearing on Tuesday 16th August, he was sentenced to 5 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

In addition, Mr Bell was ordered to pay £1,000 costs and a victim surcharge of £128.

Michael Hutchinson (39) of Cranberry Road, Sunderland also appeared for similar offences and one other offence of handling the illegally caught fish. Hutchinson was sentenced to 2 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work. Mr Hutchinson was also ordered to pay £1,000 costs and a victim surcharge of £128.

Gill nets are designed to catch fish by their gills and are rarely licensed in rivers, due to their ability to catch large numbers of migratory fish in a short period of time, as well as their potential for catching and killing fish indiscriminately. Gill nets are also capable of causing injury or indeed killing sea birds and mammals.

Representing the Environment Agency, lawyer Matthew Treece told the court that files on Bell’s mobile phone and Hutchinson’s social media pages had highlighted multiple weekends of illegal netting during the summers of 2020 and 2021, along with photographs of both men posing with catches of up to 14 fish at a time. Images from Hutchinson’s Facebook profile also showed a relative, with the captured fish, along with comments from Hutchinson encouraging them to become a “fine young poacher.”

On sentencing, District Judge Garland told the defendants: “You don’t know how lucky you are to avoid going on a trip to Durham this morning. I view and the law views the things you were up to as extremely serious. These weren’t boyish pranks. You were out there putting a large net across a confined space of river where it was highly likely you were going to catch fish of one sort or another. And you did. If you hadn’t gone around bragging on Facebook about what fish you were catching, you wouldn’t have been in as much trouble as you are.”

Following the case David Shears, Senior Fisheries Enforcement Officer for the Environment Agency in the North East, said:

With salmon stocks reaching crisis in many of England’s rivers, this level of illegal activity could have a serious impact on the sustainability of future stocks in the River Wear. That’s why we take reports of suspected poaching seriously and work closely with the police to take action where appropriate.

We’re committed to tackling illegal fishing of all kinds whether online or off and as this case clearly demonstrates, we will take action, especially where potentially damaging methods are used.

PC Peter Baker, Wildlife Officer at Northumbria Police, said:

We are really pleased to have been able to deliver effective justice and show the impact of illegal fishing and poaching. We are privileged to see a varied amount of marine wildlife around our area, and we should all play a part in protecting and supporting the environment. As a Force, we take all reports of this nature seriously and are committed to taking appropriate and robust action against the minority found to have been involved in such offences in the region’s waterways.

Through our co-ordinated efforts with partners, we will continue to educate the public to prevent further offences from taking place.

The latest stock assessment report, from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales, shows that 37 of the 42 salmon rivers (88%) in England now categorised as being ‘at risk’ or ‘probably at risk’. In 2020, 20 salmon rivers (48%) were thought to be ‘at risk’ – meaning salmon stock are no longer at sustainable levels – but in the latest report this has now risen to 31 (74%) with rivers in the South West, North West and Wales considered to be the most affected.

A licensed, strictly regulated and managed sea trout fishery operates off the North East coast and local byelaws apply to ensure sea trout may only be taken by a limited number of licenced netsmen, during the approved season (26th March to 31st May). It is also illegal to use nets to catch salmon in the North East.

Those who operate unlicensed nets risk prosecution, with unlimited fines and possible prison sentences available to the courts, and Environment Agency officers can seize equipment and vehicles.

Information about illegal fishing can be reported to the Environment Agency’s 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

Lead Minister for Resilience and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Kit Malthouse MP, announced new measures to bolster the UK’s resilience on a visit to the Met Office yesterday (Monday 15 August).

Minister Malthouse visited the Met Office, based in Exeter, to see how their forecasting expertise feeds into government planning to tackle severe weather and how the agency worked closely with Government and other partners to give people plenty of warning and advice about staying safe in the recent extreme heat.

The Minister announced the launch of a new public emergency text alert system for the UK, as well as changes to the Civil Contingencies Secretariat – the Cabinet Office’s emergency planning and response team.

Speaking in the Operations Centre of the Met Office, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Kit Malthouse MP, said:

“To make sure that government continues to offer the best possible prevention and protection against threats, we are shaking up how we prepare for and respond to emergencies, strengthening the effective resilience capability we already have in place.

“We will launch a new public emergency alerts system in the Autumn which will focus on extreme weather, revolutionising our ability to ‘warn and inform’ people who are in significant and immediate danger. These alerts will be sent direct to people’s mobiles giving details of the emergency – such as local flooding – explaining what to do and how to seek help.

“Our vital COBR unit – which leads the government’s response to acute domestic and international emergencies – will be bolstered by a dedicated team helping to future-proof us from harm. This National Resilience Framework Team will take a deeper look at our approach to risk and how we mitigate it and help us take huge leaps forward in terms of collecting, analysing and using live data.”

Ian Cameron, Director of Markets at the Met Office, commented:

“The right messaging helps people take action to stay safe. It is clear that we are seeing an increase in the number of extreme weather events in the UK and overseas. Just this summer we have seen temperatures in the UK exceed 40C for the first time on record, followed closely by the heatwave which ended earlier this week. Communicating effectively is imperative so we can warn and alert people, ensuring they are aware and have more time to take action and look after themselves, their friends and family.”

Minister Malthouse spoke with a range of staff in the Met Office to learn more about their work, from the Meteorologists who lead on weather forecasts, to the Space Weather Operations team who are part of just one of three space weather prediction centres in the world, monitoring potentially disruptive solar activity for government and industry.

The emergency alerts system, which will focus on events like extreme weather and warning the public where there is a risk to life, will be launched in the autumn following a public awareness campaign. The free message will give details of the emergency – local flooding or wildfires, for example – what to do and how to seek help, and will relay urgent messages to over 85% of mobile phones in areas affected.

Changes to the Civil Contingencies Secretariat – the Cabinet Office’s emergency planning and response team – will see a COBR Unit continuing to lead the government’s response to acute emergencies, and work on longer term planning being driven forward by a separate team dedicated to strengthening the UK’s underlying resilience. This National Resilience Framework Team in the Planning and Analysis Secretariat will take a deeper look at the government’s approach to risk and how it is mitigated as well as collecting and analysing live data to improve future responses to emergencies.