Leaving EU will create ‘sea of opportunity’

Leaving the European Union will create a “sea of opportunity” for the UK fishing industry, the new Environment Secretary Michael Gove has said.

Brexit will enable the industry to set a “far more sensible, environmentally wise policy”, Mr Gove said.

The minister was visiting Peterhead yesterday to speak to key figures from the fishing industry, many of whom backed Brexit.

Mr Gove told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “There is a sea of opportunity for us out there as we leave the European Union.

“I don’t think anyone envisages anything other than a free trade arrangement between Britain and the European Union.

“No deal is indeed better than a bad deal, but I think that, because we have a trade deficit with the European Union, because they sell more to us than we sell to them not just in agriculture but also in other manufactured goods as well, it’s clearly in the EU 27’s interests to come to a deal, but more than that, it’s in our interests to be able to dramatically increase the amount of fish that we catch.

“We can do so because once we take back control of our territorial waters, we can decide who comes here, we can decide on what terms and we can also have a far more sensible, environmentally wise policy.”