The Environment Agency told Guido that David Lammy was let off for fishing without a rod licence because it had been bought retroactively. They are now rowing back from their once-militant ‘we prosecute, always’ stance. If Lammy can get away with it, so should others…

After Guido asked whether the public are allowed to buy their licence retroactively whether or not they’ve been caught, the EA now says that all cases are carefully considered on their individual merits before any final enforcement decision is made. A far cry from their previous chest-beating:

“We do check, regularly, and we prosecute, always. Buying a rod licence is not expensive. There’s no excuse for not having one. ”

This is the same EA that’s boasted of fining at least 27 anglers for fishing without a licence s

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