CAMPAIGN FOR AN INDEPENDENT BRITAIN Media Contact: Stuart Gulleford, Press Officer Tel: 01277-231837 mobile: 07734-457390 e-mail: stuartgulleford@keme.co.uk President: Sir Richard Body Vice-Presidents: Sir Teddy Taylor, Lord Beaumont of Whitley, Chairman: Lord Stoddart of Swindon Vice-Chairman: Lord Pearson of Rannoch ___________________________________________________________________ NEWS RELEASE 1st May 2007 BRITAIN’S FISHERMEN MOVE TO SCUPPER THE EU’S 50th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION WITH FLOATING PROTEST Britain’s fishermen are in a rebellious mood and have moved in early to take the shine off the EU’s 50th Anniversary celebrations next week, by organising a major floating protest on the Thames at mid-day on Friday 4th May. The protest, arranged with the help of the Campaign for an Independent Britain and the support of the RMT union and the UK Independence Party, will feature a flotilla of more than 30 fishing vessels sailing up the Thames to Westminster, arriving near the Houses of Parliament at around 1.30pm. The trawlers taking part will be decorated with anti-EU banners. VIPs boarding the vessels at St Katharine’s Pier will include RMT General Secretary Bob Crow and Jeffrey Titford MEP. Representation from Westminster, is also expected. The public has also been asked to turn out and line the banks of the Thames near Westminster, to show their support. Daryl Godbold, the protest’s main organiser and whose boat will lead the flotilla said: “As far as the nation’s fishermen are concerned, there is nothing at all worth celebrating about the EU’s 50th anniversary. For us, British membership of the EU, which effectively meant that Brussels took over control of our fishing waters, has been a disaster. Since the EU takeover, our industry has been all but wiped out with fish stocks pushed close to extinction through over-fishing by foreign factory ships, given unfettered access to our waters.” Lord Stoddart of Swindon, Chairman of the Campaign for an Independent Britain, said: “I hope the public will turn out and give our beleagured fishermen their full support. It is quite obscene for vast amounts of public money to be spent upon lavish festivities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of an organisation that is bleeding this country dry, financially, while drowning us in red tape and destroying important industries such as fishing. Frankly, they should be holding a wake, not a celebration!” - Ends - Note to Editors/Journalists: Any member of the press or broadcast media wishing to be on board one of the vessels taking part in the flotilla (pick up from St Katharine’s Pier) should contact Stuart Gulleford on 07734-457390 or 01277-231837.