Angela Smith MP, Labour’s Shadow Water and Animal Welfare Minister, responding to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on Marine Protected Areas, said:

“The Labour Party recognises there are significant pressures on the marine environment around the UK.

“In Government we committed the UK to establishing an ambitious ecologically coherent and well-managed network of marine protected areas, including new powers to designate Marine Conservation Zones in UK waters.

“Yet after four years of mismanagement and total lack of commitment under this Tory-led Government the future of the Marine Coastal Zones now look extremely uncertain.”