Toby on Tuesday

'The Age Of Endeavour' 

Last week we had some fun with Germany’s Euro Information and its EU version of the Olympics medal table which placed “European Union” at the very top and with Great Britain nowhere to be seen.   Let’s start today with a bit more fun and this revised medal table:

1.  Commonwealth – 58 Gold, 65 Silver and 51 Bronze, Total:  174

2.  United States – 39 Gold, 36 Silver and 33 Bronze, Total:  108

3.  China – 23 Gold, 18 Silver and 26 Bronze, Total:  67

And here in our corner of North Yorkshire the Commonwealth means an immense amount to us, for this was the birthplace and home of the hugely brave and gifted Captain James Cook, without whom the Commonwealth as we know it would never have existed.   Born in 1728 at Marton, he was raised at Great Ayton before becoming a merchant navy apprentice at Whitby.   So began his his astonishing career during which he mapped much of Canada, especially Newfoundland, and then made his three great voyages of exploration to the Pacific Ocean.   During these, he mapped the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, while also making the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.   The rest, as they say, is history, but James  Cook’s personal qualities of courage, patience and good sense should not be forgotten.   And what is astonishing is that so many members of the Cook family still live and thrive in this constituency and still possess those qualities that made him great.

Now where all this is significant is that Brexit gives us the chance at last to restore our Commonwealth links and to rebuild our identity as an outward-looking maritime people once more.   When we joined the European project, we were forced to give away our North Sea fisheries and were subsumed into a dysfunctional Continental federation.   This has been a disaster, but now things can be put right.   And the first step must be to reclaim our 200-nautical mile EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone), as well as all our coastal waters.   The 1982 Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea adopted the concept of the EEZ.   Under this, a coastal state like Great Britain can assume jurisdiction over the exploration and exploitation of marine resources in its adjacent section of the continental shelf, taken to be a band extending 200 nautical miles (370 kilometres) from its shore.   Within this area, nations can claim and exercise sovereign rights and exclusive fishery management authority over all fish and all continental shelf fishery resources (Source:  Review of Fisheries in OECD Countries:  Glossary, February 1998).   To achieve this would not only add billions of pounds of value every year to our fishing industry and do wonders for our boat building and related industries, but also give an immense psychological boost to our country.

Reclaiming our maritime resources under the 1982 United Nations Conference will take time, probably quite as much time as the 2-year Brexit process.   So as a matter of urgency our Government should begin this process as soon as possible.   At exactly the same moment, therefore, as triggering Article 50 with the European Commission, the Government should table with the United Nations a claim under the Law of the Sea for the full enforcement of Great Britain’s marine rights under international law.   Ted Heath’s Government simply betrayed the Commonwealth and betrayed our fishing industry in 1972.   Now, remembering James Cook and his Yorkshire qualities of endurance and good sense, we have the chance to put things right, while also rebuilding our old friendships above all else with Canada, Australia and New Zealand.   And if the old parties have no interest in making these things happen, then a renewed UKIP will just have to make very certain that they do!

Until next Tuesday!

Toby