Scottish Tories highlight fishing concerns with PM

Impact of transition deal of huge concern as Conservative MPs put Government “on notice”

Scottish Tory MPs said they had put the Government “on notice” after they voiced concerns about the impact of the UK’s Brexit transition deal on fishing directly with the Prime Minister.

They met Theresa May to discuss their concerns about the agreement as Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said it was “inevitable” the interim arrangements for leaving the European Union would keep the country linked to the common fisheries policy (CFP).

Sir Keir said anger erupted in the sector because Tories had “not been straight with those in the fishing industry”.

Scottish Brexit minister Mike Russell claimed some in the Conservative Party had been “guilty of a cruel deception” over Brexit and fishing.

Fishermen had wanted the UK to regain full control over the country’s fishing waters immediately after the leaving the EU in March 2019.

However, the agreement – reached on Monday by Brexit Secretary David Davis and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier – states the UK will be “consulted” on the allocation of fishing quotas and access to waters during the transition period.

Sir Keir said the problem arose after the Government had “overpromised and is now under-delivering” to the fishing fleet.

He said environment secretary Michael Gove and Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson had been “quick to go out in the past and say that we would have control over fishing in March 2019 ... and they weren’t being straight”.

He stated: “It was inevitable that the transitional agreements that were agreed yesterday would be on the same terms as we currently have.

“The problem for the Tories is not having been straight with those in the fishing industry, they are now rightly facing some pretty serious questions.”

Mr Russell said that changes to fishing “are not going to be kicking in until 2020, despite all the assurances that have come from certain political figures claiming that we’ll be leaving the CFP in March 2019”.

He added: “That was not true, was always not going to be true and indeed people who asserted that it was going to be true were guilty of a cruel deception.”