Merchant Shipping (Pollution) Bill [Lords]

I entirely agree with my right hon. Friend on that point, and I was very glad to hear the Minister promise, following my right hon. Friend’s intervention, to come back to that matter. It would be quite wrong for the Bill to interfere in any way with historic celebrations of the gallantry of our sailors in two world wars, for example. The Minister gave him a tentative assurance, which I hope he can firm up at the end of the debate. We all know the consequences of major oil spills. We have seen the pictures on television of dead and dying birds and of coastlines ruined, in some cases perhaps for ever. Local economies are often stunted and tourism blighted. We should also remember those who live off the sea. After the Braer disaster off the Shetlands, to which the Minister referred, three quarters of the compensation went to help the fishermen whose livelihoods had been destroyed overnight. There have been a number of other terrible spillages, such as the Sea Empress at Milford Haven, to which the Minister rightly referred. The cost of the Braer and Milford Haven disasters were $83 million and $62 million respectively—disasters that left tens of thousands of birds dying in the slick, and ruined hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline. The old liability and fund conventions made available up to $300 million to cover such costs. Those British disasters fell well within that fund but, as the Minister rightly said, that is not true of all oil disasters. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Prince William Sound, 37,000 tonnes of crude oil were spilled and 270,000 birds were killed. The cost of the clean-up operation was a staggering $2.5 billion.