Scottish Tories take demand for EU fishing policy exit to PM
Scottish Conservatives have taken their demand that the UK must leave the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) by the end of 2020 straight to Theresa May amid fears that the post-brexit transition period could be extended.
During conference calls between the Prime Minister and her cabinet over the weekend, David Mundell put concerns that a longer transition could keep UK fishermen under CFP quotas and rules directly to Mrs May, it is understood.
And during a Commons update on last week’s EU
Council summit, Scottish Tory MPS called for assurances that the UK would quit the CFP by the end of 2020 as planned.
Reminding Mrs May that the Environment Secretary Michael Gove had said last week that he was “invincibly confident” the UK would leave the CFP on time, Andrew Bowie asked “if she shares his confidence”.
Mrs May replied: “I am confident because I’m confident that we can negotiate our future relationship such that it comes into place on the 1st of January 2021.”
However, the Prime Minister also told MPS that there could be “limited circumstances” when it is in Britain’s interest to agree to a short extension to the transition period, if it was an alternative to activating the ‘backstop’ plan to maintain the status quo along the Irish land border by keeping Northern Ireland tied to EU regulations.