Great idea, but it doesn’t work in practice - Neil Parish tells House of Commons debate. He is supporting the Fish Fight campaign championed by local chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Fish Fight: Tiverton and Honiton MP Neil Parish has backed the Fish Fight campaign, which aims to stamp out the practice of dead and dying fish being thrown back into the sea.

He spoke during a backbench debate on the campaign in the House of commons last week.

When he was an MEP, he sat on the Fisheries Committee for 10 years.

“In all that time, I opposed the common fisheries policy (CFP),” he said. “Let me explain why. The CFP is a little bit like communism: it is a wonderful idea in principle but, in practice, it just does not work.

“If we have a common resource in Europe, every country thinks that some animals are more equal than others and are entitled to a greater proportion of the fish.”