Macron targets Scots fish
EMMANUEL Macron last night picked a fish fight with Scottish fleets by demanding priority access to our waters after Brexit.
France’s president vowed to force Britain into the Irish border “backstop” if we do not give up access to UK fishing waters.
The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy and the access it gives other nations’ fleets to UK waters is deeply unpopular with Scotland’s fishermen.
The promise of taking Scotland out of the hated agreement is widely seen as a key part of the Tory revival in the north-east of Scotland in recent years.
The divorce agreement approved by EU leaders yesterday guarantees European fishermen access to British territorial waters during the transition period.
But what happens after 2020 is still to be decided as part of the negotiations between the UK and EU on their future relations.
At a press conference in Brussels, Prime Minister Theresa May said that her deal would “not just deliver a bigger annual quota within the Common Fisheries Policy, it sets us free of the CFP for good and forever”.
But Macron said the French would use the “leverage” of keeping the UK in the customs union to get a good deal.
He said: “I can’t imagine that the desire of Theresa May or her supporters is to remain for the long term in a customs union but to define a proper future relationship which resolves this problem.
“It is leverage because it is important as to our future relationship and I do not understand that Mrs May and those who support her very much wanted to stay in the customs union, they would rather favour new rules.”
German chancellor Angela Merkel said the talks on fisheries are “undoubtedly going to be an area where negotiations are going to be tough”.