Clam up you clowns
Floundering Tories try to shrug off Scottish seafood industry’s struggles with Brexit red tape
BREXIT export delays crippling the Scottish fishing industry have been dismissed as “teething problems” by a Tory minister.
UK Environment Secretary George Eustice, said hold-ups would be overcome and repeated Boris Johnson’s promise of compensation for losses.
The Prime Minister told MPs exporters “will be compensated” for losses claimed to total millions worth of shellfish and fish written off because of delays in health certification.
Eustice refused to answer seven times when the issue of compensation was raised in the Commons by Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael.
The minister then told the Orkney and Shetland MP the “Government remains open to considering compensation for sectors that might be affected through no fault of their own”.
He added delays “are only teething problems” and that “once people get used to using the paperwork, goods will flow normally”.
It was one of a series of brush-offs delivered yesterday by Tory ministers to the Scottish fishing industry:
When Scotland Office minister David Duguid was asked how long it would take to solve the problems, he said: “How long is a piece of string?”
Tory Commons leader Jacob ReesMogg joked that fish in British waters are “better and happier” after Brexit.
The comments came after fisheries minister Victoria Prentis told a Lords committee she had not read the Brexit fisheries deal at Christmas as she was busy organising her local nativity trail.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross demanded the UK government deliver on the PM’s promise after Eustice threw the pledge into doubt.
Ross called for the minister to liaise with the Scottish Government on “the compensation scheme clearly needed by our fishermen across the country”.
Carmichael said Brexiteers were dispensing with the industry. He added: “They got what they wanted and now when the industry really needs them, they are not to be found.
“Repeating the Prime Minister’s blithe assertion that all the disruption for fishermen is just ‘teething problems’ suggests a total lack of engagement with the real issues growing day by day.”
Rees-Mogg said: “The Government is tackling this issue, dealing with it as quickly as possible, and the key thing is we’ve got our fish back.
But Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “Obviously there’s no overwhelming evidence for that.”