News / Prime Minister urged to meet with fishermen after ‘insulting’ response to UK-EU deal
PRIME Minister Keir Starmer has been urged to meet with fishermen after leaving them in the “worst possible position” in terms of a UK-EU fishing deal.
Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) chief executive Elspeth Macdonald said it was “insulting and patronising” for Starmer to describe the 12 year deal as “good for fishing”.
The fishing industry reacted with fury after the UK and EU agreed a deal which will mean EU boats can continue to fish in UK waters for the next 12 years.
She said the Prime Minister should “do the decent thing” and meet skippers and crew to hear their perspectives on the deal first-hand.
The SFF said Starmer had tried to “sweeten the blow” with a £360 million fishing and coastal growth fund.
But it said that figure “pales in comparison” to the £6 billion worth of fish that they estimate the EU will fish from UK waters in the next 12 years.
Macdonald said Starmer had taken the UK’s trump card in the EU negotiations and “not only thrown it away” but “ripped it up into tiny pieces before doing so”.
“It was both insulting and patronising to hear you and your Ministers tell us this was a good deal for fishing,” she said.
“You also told us, again patronisingly, that we should welcome the stability of a 12 year agreement on access. That you know what’s best for us.
“Yet we have spent months telling your ministers that stability in terms of access to waters is the worst possible position for the UK.
“Your reaction also showed a lack of understanding of the 2020 agreement and how international fisheries agreements work, as well as a misplaced lack of faith – that we don’t share – in your negotiating teams to deliver better quota shares for the UK through annual negotiations.”
Referring to the coastal and growth fund, which is to run for 12 years too, Macdonald pointed out that Starmer’s mandate only runs for another four years.
“As no future government is obliged to meet commitments made by a previous one, you can in essence, only commit to three years of funding – some £90 million,” she said.
“Contrast this to the £450-500 million value of the fish that the EU will take from our waters for the next twelve years – £6 billion, not accounting for inflation or value added – and what little sugar coating you felt there might be in your funding package to sweeten the very bitter pill swiftly vanishes.”
A UK Government spokesperson said they had secured a deal which provides “stability and protection for the British fishing industry, with no increase to the quota that EU fishers are allowed to catch in British waters.”
“The deal allows UK vessels’ continued access to EU waters – worth £80m per year to fishing communities,” they said.
“On top of that, we are also investing £360 million over the next 12 years into the fishing industry.”
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