We WILL take back control of fishing in 2021 pledges Gove
MICHAEL Gove admitted he is ‘disappointed’ by the Brexit transition deal for fishermen – but gave a firm commitment Britain will regain control of its waters at the end of 2020.
The Environment Secretary yesterday became the first UK Government minister to condemn the deal secured by Brexit Secretary David Davis, which will see fishermen enduring nearly two more years of EU rules and quotas.
Scottish Tory MPs put Theresa May ‘on notice’ they will reject her Brexit deal unless assurances are given over fishing rights.
In Parliament, Mr Gove, a Scot raised in the North-East, said: ‘I will happily acknowledge there is disappointment in fishing communities. As someone whose father was a fish merchant and whose grandparents went to sea, I completely understand how fishing communities feel about the situation – and I share their disappointment.’
But he told Scots Tory MPs: ‘There is a significant prize at the end of the
‘Keep our eyes on that prize’
implementation period, which is a necessary step to securing that prize.
‘For our coastal communities, it is an opportunity to revive economically. For our marine environment, it is an opportunity to be managed sustainably. It is critical that all of us, in the interests of the whole nation, keep our eyes on that prize.’
He pledged that, in December 2020, the UK will be negotiating fishing opportunities as ‘an independent coastal state deciding who can access our waters and on what terms for the first time in over 40 years’.
A spokesman for Mrs May said: ‘As we leave we will be taking back control of our waters and this will allow us to create a more financially selfsufficient, profitable and responsive UK seafood sector.’
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk Tory MP John Lamont said: ‘I very much welcome Michael Gove’s comments that, after the transition, the UK Government will decide who can access our waters and on what terms.
‘But the Government should be clear that they are on notice – no deal for fishermen and they will have to think again on the terms of our departure.’
SNP Brexit Minister Michael Russell said changes to fishing ‘are not going to be kicking in until 2020, despite assurances from certain political figures claiming we’ll be leaving the Common Fisheries Policy in March 2019’.
He added: ‘That was not true, was always not going to be true and people who asserted it was going to be true were guilty of a cruel deception.’
Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong said: ‘We have one government keeping us in the CFP an extra 21 months and another government that would keep us in the CFP permanently, so we are not particularly pleased with the support we’ve had from any government of this land.’
EVERY day, the charge sheet against Facebook grows longer. For years now, the taxdodging social media giant has stood accused of offering a platform to pornographers, paedophiles and terrorists.
Yet this week its reputation has hit a new low, wiping £39billion off the value of its shares and leaving founder Mark Zuckerberg some £5billion the poorer (though few will weep for the 33-year-old, whose holding is still worth £48billion).
Yes, it has long been known that Facebook harvests customers’ personal details on a cosmic scale. What was unclear until now was just how recklessly it abuses their trust.
It is too much to hope Mr Zuckerberg will answer MPs’ summons to explain how Cambridge Analytica was able to access details of tens of millions of Facebook users, exploiting them to try to influence elections.
Nor is he likely to volunteer what, precisely, his representatives were doing at CA’s London offices after it was informed that the Information Commissioner had applied for a search warrant.
But one thing is abundantly clear. The law and regulators’ powers lag light years behind the age of the internet. They cannot catch up too soon.