EU trawlers ‘can fish in UK after Brexit’

EUROPEAN trawlers will still be able to fish in British waters after Brexit, Michael Gove suggested yesterday.

The Environment Secretary claimed the UK’s fishing industry is too small to harvest all of Britain’s fish stocks – and indicated vessels from other countries would be allowed in.

His comments in a meeting with Danish fishing industry leaders sparked concern from British fishermen that ministers will not deliver on a key Brexit campaign pledge. In Wednesday’s meeting, Mr Gove told industry chiefs that ‘the British do not have the capacity to catch and process all the fish in British waters’.

Niels Wichmann, managing-director of the Danish fisheries association, told a Danish newspaper that Mr Gove guaranteed the group that ‘other countries’ would have access to UK waters.

But Bertie Armstrong, of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation said: ‘We will be out of the Common Fisheries Policy and we will decide who fishes where and for what. Our position is straightforward: we must have first call on quota.’ And a spokesman for Mr Gove said any access arrangement would be ‘on our terms’.