Fishermen accuse PM of betrayal

As they attack ‘neo-colonial’ tie to EU…

FISHERMEN have accused Boris Johnson of surrender by accepting a ‘ neo- colonial’ relationship with the EU.

The Prime Minister has betrayed the industry to get a Brexit trade deal, it was claimed.

Scottish seafood firms are said to be just ‘days from collapse’ unless emergency cash is paid to compensate for the border chaos while Scottish fishermen are being forced to make 72-hour round-trips to sell their catches in Denmark.

In a letter to Mr Johnson, the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations claimed the PM sacrificed the industry to get a deal with the EU. They accused the PM of misleading the public and fishermen.

The letter said: ‘Everything... that you, and others at the very top of government told us, and the general public, led us to

‘Situation is a shambles’

believe that your stance on fishing was ... based around a principle – that a sovereign country should be able to control who fishes in its own waters. That proved not to be the case.’

It added: ‘It is not that, in the end, you were forced to concede in the face of an intransigent and powerful opponent that has caused such fury, it is that you have tried to present the agreement as a major success when it is not.’

Fishermen have had to leave catches rotting on the docks or accept reduced money because of delays in transport.

The shipping company DFDS halted exports of Scottish seafood to the Continent last week after delays in getting on top of new customs paperwork. Its shipments are not expected to resume until next week, and even then are likely to take two days rather than one to reach markets in the EU. The industry is losing around £1million a day, and a lack of buyers has seen the price of Scottish seafood plummet 50 per cent.

Supplies are being squeezed by post-Brexit red tape at ports. Many fishermen have been unable to export produce on time since January 1 while experts have warned that Danish markets are being flooded by the sudden upsurge of Scottish fish.

Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief executive Elspeth MacDonald yesterday wrote a furious letter to the PM while Scottish Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said the seafood situation was ‘a shambles of the government’s own making’.

A third of fishing boats in Scotland are currently said to be tied up at harbours.