HANDS OFF OUR FISH!
Cod war fears as EU says stocks in British waters belong, wait for it, to Brussels
DOWnInG Street last night told the eU to ‘get real’ after Michel Barnier claimed that fish swimming in Britain’s waters belong to Brussels.
In an extraordinary speech on Wednesday the eU’s chief Brexit negotiator said hopes of a trade deal would be sunk unless Boris Johnson surrenders access to the UK’s fishing grounds.
The Prime Minister insists Britain will become an ‘independent coastal nation’ from the end of this year, with the right to decide who fishes in its waters, which extend for up to 200 miles from shore.
Mr Barnier is demanding that eU trawlers retain their existing rights to fish Britain’s waters, claiming they are a ‘common resource’. Speaking in Dublin, he said: ‘Obviously the UK will recover the full sovereignty on their waters. But it is another thing speaking about the fish which are inside the waters.’
no 10 yesterday urged Mr Barnier to show ‘more realism’ over his demands, or risk the collapse of trade talks.
Mr Barnier is also demanding the UK sign up to a ‘level playing field’, forcing businesses to continue following eU rules on subsidies, workers’ rights and other areas after the transition period ends.
The PM’s official spokesman warned that the eU had to accept the UK would become fully independent.
he said: ‘Michel Barnier’s comments are a misleading representation of our proposals aimed at deflecting scrutiny from the eU’s own positions which are unrealistic and unprecedented.
‘The eU have refused to engage with our proposals and the documents we’ve brought to the table, insisting we must accept continuity with eU fisheries policy and disregarding the UK’s status as an independent coastal state.
‘We need more realism from the eU on the scale of the change that results from our leaving the eU.’
A failure to resolve the row could see the royal navy patrolling our fishing grounds, risking confrontations not seen since the ‘cod wars’ with Iceland in the 1970s. But despite the growing gloom about prospects for a deal, one Cabinet minister last night predicted there would be a breakthrough in the coming weeks provided the Government holds its nerve.
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack told Sky news: ‘We are going to get a Brexit deal.
We’re are going to get a Brexit deal by holding to our deadlines.’
Pierre Karleskind, chairman of the european Parliament’s fisheries committee, told radio 4’s Today programme the UK’s proposals could ‘destroy one third of the european fishing fleet’.
But Barrie Deas, chief executive of the national Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, said the UK was asking for no more than the eU had granted to norway, which sets quotas for eU trawlers. ‘It’s the eU that’s the outlier on this one,’ he added.
Formal talks will resume next week, with ministers warning that negotiators have just a month to strike a deal.