Mark has fought a long campaign for new regulations on ship-to-ship oil transfers which could take place in the Firth of Forth. The importance of this was brought home by the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

He has been working closely with other local MPs on this as well as RSPB Scotland which has obviously been concerned about the possible dangers to birds which breed in the area if a spill were to take place.

The last Government introduced new regulations which were due to come into force this October. They have now been deferred until April pending a further review – the third to take place on this issue.

To see the proposed regulations click here.

Local councils in coastal areas have welcomed the new regulations because they know the cost in both environmental and financial terms of an oil spill.

The danger always is that Governments are only prepared to finally act in the wake of a disaster when the cost both in environmental and financial terms would be so much greater than tough but fair regulation now.

Mark has just made a submission to the latest Government consultation in which he calls for an end to the delay and for the new regulations to be implemented as soon as possible. To read about the submission click here.

To read more on the background to this issue click here.