Gove pledges Danish access to UK fishing grounds
● SNP on the attack after assurances to Danish fishing fleet
Michael Gove has been accused of being at odds with the UK government’s stance on the post-brexit fishing industry after he promised Danish vessels would still be able to catch “large amounts” in British waters.
On a visit to Denmark yesterday, the UK Environment Secretary said Britain would not have the capacity to land all the fish in its territorial waters and that some access would be granted to other countries.
Last night a Defra spokesman insisted the UK government’s position has not changed.
But Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banff and Buchan Coast, said Mr Gove’s comments showed “you cannot trust the Tories”.
Michael Gove has sparked anger by promising that Danish fishing vessels would still be allowed to catch “large amounts” of fish in British waters after Brexit.
The UK Environment Secretary infuriated the SNP who claimed his remarks were at odds with UK government pledges that EU withdrawal would benefit the Scottish fishing industry by taking back control of waters.
Mr Gove attempted to reassure the Danish food industry when on a visit to the Scandinavian country.
He said: “Danish fishermen will still be able to catch large amounts of fish in British waters, even if the British leave the EU. Britain has no fish cutters [those employed to clean, trim and bone fish] and production facilities enough to catch all the fish in British waters.”
Previously, Mr Gove had said that becoming an independent coastal state would extend the UK’S control over waters to 200 miles.
He also said British fishermen will have the exclusive rights to a 12-mile zone around the coastline under after Brexit as the UK would no longer be bound by the Common Fisheries Policy.
Last night a Defra spokesman insisted that the UK Government’s position had not changed, saying that it had always been the case that some foreign vessels would get access to British waters. But leaving the EU meant that it would be under the UK’S terms.
SNP MSP for Banff and Buchan Coast Stewart Stevenson attacked the comments.
“You cannot trust the Tories to stand up for rural Scotland’s interests,” he said. “They might well be trying to keep voters and fishermen sweet at home with all sorts of promises – yet Michael Gove is jet-setting around Europe reassuring EU members that there’ll be nothing of the sort.
“Michael Gove must immediately make absolutely clear what the UK government’s real position on the future of fisheries is. He could start by confirming that devolved powers over fisheries will transfer to Scotland so that we can get on with developing our own management policies which put Scottish fishing interests offshore and onshore, first.
“It is simply too important an industry for too many of our communities, particularly in my constituency, for him to continue promising one thing in public at home whilst saying the complete opposite in private to international audiences.”
A Defra spokesman said: “Leaving the EU means we will take back control of our territorial waters. As we have always said, other countries will be able to access our waters – but for the first time in 50 years it will be on our terms and under our control.
“We will allocate quotas on the basis of what is scientifically sustainable, making sure we have a healthy marine environment and profitable fishing industry in the UK.”
Early last June in the run up to the referendum on whether the UK should leave the European Union, an emotional Michael Gove MP, a key Brexiteer, appeared close to tears as he told a live television audience how he had witnessed first-hand how the Brussels’ bureaucrats had wrecked his adopted father’s Aberdeen-based fish business.
The former Westminster justice secretary said his father’s firm had been “destroyed by the European Union” adding that the institution was a “job-destroying machine”.
Now Mr Gove’s words appear to have come back to haunt him with his pronouncement to Danish industry leaders that foreign fishing vessels will still be allowed to fish in “Scottish” waters.
Not only does this appear to contradict what Mr Gove, now the UK Environment Secretary, said on the Andrew Marr show last month – that no foreign boats would be allowed to fish within six to 12 miles of the UK coast and that the UK would be “taking back control” of its waters – it also goes against the understanding of fishing communities which voted to leave the EU on the basis that the common fisheries policy was harmful to the industry, citing harmful quotas and boats from other countries given equal access to UK waters as their main grievances.
The fishing industry was just about the only part of the Scottish economy to welcome Brexit – what an irony if fishermen now find they are not getting what they thought they were voting for.
Meanwhile the Danes have said they are seeking a deal that would effectively mean “business as usual” with regard to access to UK fisheries after Brexit. This will deepen concerns held by Scottish fishermen. Is Brexit actually going to make any difference?
This development has come as a surprise, but really, it shouldn’t. The UK’S negotiating position is to get out of the EU but retain as many of its advantages as possible, i.e. access to markets. We are hardly in a position to complain if other countries take the same approach in the opposite direction.
Mr Gove has created great uncertainty in fishing communities. He has to clarify the position at the earliest opportunity, and let the industry know where it stands – free of what it saw as the shackles of the EU ... or is access to UK fishing waters being used as a bargaining tool in Brexit negotiations?