Tories urged to end ‘idiotic’ £1.8bn tax break for UK fishing fleet

Conservationists call for end to subsidies that make up 15% to 18% of industry's income and threaten to empty the ocean of fish'

The government needs to urgently end polluting tax breaks for the UK fishing fleet that threaten to empty the ocean of fish", say conservationists, after a first-of-its kind study reveals diesel subsidies to be worth up to 1.8bn a decade.

Without the tax subsidies, largely provided to the most fuel-intensive section of the fleet, many sectors would be unprofitable, according to the analysis by government environmental advisers.