Reading West MP, Martin Salter and Labour Parliamentary Spokesman for Angling has today secured written confirmation from the Government that this week’s EU Fisheries Council meeting has seen the end of the threat to make recreational sea anglers catches count against the EU quota for the UK.

Labour’s Parliamentary Spokesman for Angling, Reading West MP Martin Salter, has described the two significant fisheries announcements this week as “great news for recreational anglers in the UK”. Mr Salter has been working closely with government ministers, angling representatives and the Environment Agency to deliver new fisheries byelaws through the Marine and Coastal Access Bill which will prohibit the removal of coarse fish from freshwater fisheries in England and Wales, save for some limited exceptions. He also pressed ministers to stand firm against attempts by the European Commission to impose quota restrictions on fish caught by recreational sea-anglers under Article 47 of the new Community Fisheries Control regulation.

Reading West MP, Martin Salter, last week flew to Stockholm in his capacity as a Member of the Home Affairs Select Committee to represent the British Parliament at the annual Inter-parliamentary Conference of Justice and Home Affairs Committees which was hosted by the Swedish EU Presidency. The theme of the conference was “a balanced approach to legal security and combating organised crime, with a special focus on trafficking for sexual purposes”.

There are times, I have to admit, when one of my favourite phrases “gently undulating blobs of impotence” can fairly and aptly describe many of our politicians. I’m thinking of those types who smarm their way up the greasy pole, never rocking the boat, never challenging the party line and never doing anything to put their own careers in jeopardy. On the other hand there are those characters who take risks, who make the political weather and who show leadership, courage and have the ability to inspire. These are the history makers and over the years the British House of Commons has produced some shining examples.

Reading West MP, Martin Salter finally received his letter from Sir Thomas Legg, the former top civil servant, charged with overseeing MPs, allowance claims for the past five years.

Reading West MP Martin Salter has welcomed the unanimous decision by the council’s Planning Committee to reject Thames Water’s application to build 96 homes on the Bath Road Reservoir site. Mr Salter had lodged a formal object to the proposals and had written personally to every councillor on the Planning Applications Committee, setting out the reasons why the plans should be rejected.

Whilst there is much to be said for being in the ‘twilight’ of one’s political career, I do have to confess to experiencing feelings of nostalgia. None more so than in Brighton last week, the venue for my last Labour party conference as an MP and the scene of part of my mis-spent youth.

Controversial plans by Thames Water to build 100 houses and flats on the site of the former Bath Road Reservoir in Reading will come before Reading Borough Council’s Planning Applications Committee tonight, where local MP Martin Salter will be speaking out on behalf of local residents against the proposals. Mr Salter has been closely involved in the campaign to protect the site since 1996 and has already submitted his own formal objection to the plans describing them as “intrusive and detrimental to the surrounding area”.