An amendment to the Brexit bill, to give British yachtsmen, sailors and those employed in marine activities through Europe the same rights and benefits as they enjoy now, was withdrawn after a parliamentary debate in the House of Lords last week.
On March 19 the amendment (227BB) was mooted by the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Business, Lord Fox who proposed it at the behest of the RYA and British Marine. Pointing out that leisure boating accounts for 33,000 full-time employees and more than 4,500 businesses in the UK Lord Fox asked that vessels be allowed to retain their current Union goods status – (ie not having to pay VAT and customs duty); not doing this would damage tourist trade in places like Greece where Brits keep their boats, he said.
He also pointed out that many Brits go to Europe for seasonal employment in boating and it would be important to continue this custom.
However the Conservative Lord Duncan, replying for the government pointed out that these issues were not much different than those affecting many other industries. “It is our intention to be very careful as we take this matter forward,” he said, adding however that there was no way the government could commit to align with future legislation within the EU. Nor could exceptions be made for the customs union question relating to boats and their equipment. As for seasonal workers – he pointed out that RYA qualifications are not covered by the mutual recognition of professional qualifications directive. “Holders of these certificates need to check the requirements of the local port state control administration,” he said, adding that the UK should probably have done more to align its boating qualifications with the European Directive. “We should have been able to do this in the past, but we have not been able to address it,” he said.
After a comment from Lord Tunnicliffe, Labour, that this was painting a very dull picture of the future, the amendment was duly withdrawn.
Image: Nancy Blackett being sailed “freely” by Arthur Ransome fans in the Netherlands last year as part of the 80th We Didn’t Mean to Go to Sea anniversary activities. Photo: Veronica Frenks
CS readers: Do you remember “going foreign” before we joined the EU on January 1 1973?
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