Marine and Coastal Access Bill [Lords]

This Bill presents us with a great opportunity to protect and improve our natural heritage. It is apt that we are considering it 60 years after the establishment of our first national parks through the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. We must use this opportunity to get the management and conservation of our marine heritage absolutely right. It is a fantastic opportunity and the public are behind us on this. Earlier, an Opposition Front-Bench Member ably pointed to the statistics on this matter, but the Co-op has also undertaken an innovative customer vote on it, and 363,000 customers responded, 83 per cent. of whom were in favour of the introduction of marine reserves. In my constituency, many more than 350 Co-op customers voted in favour of marine reserves. That demonstrates that the people of this island nation of ours remain proud of their coastline and marine heritage. I am very glad that there is so much cross-party support for the Bill, and I hope that neither political side will fall back behind the traditional dividing lines in this Chamber. In that respect, I am very sorry that there was an attack earlier from someone on the Opposition Front Bench about the length of time that it took to get this Bill on to the Floor of the House. That was unnecessary.