SNP split on f ishing
MSP Mason breaks ranks to insist independent Scotland wouldn’t rejoin EU after Brexit – if that meant obeying ‘hated’ catch quotas
A SPLIT has emerged within the SNP over the party’s approach to Europe.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that an independent Scotland would seek to become a full member of the European Union.
But one of her backbenchers is now claiming the country would not seek to rejoin if it meant sticking with the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and abiding by EU rules and quotas.
John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, described the issue as a ‘red line’ and ‘deal-breaker’.
Former health secretary Alex Neil, who voted Leave in the EU referendum, has also previously urged the SNP to drop its policy of supporting full EU membership in the event of separation.
The dispute follows this week’s confirmation that Britain will have to endure EU rules and quotas until the end of 2020, during the ‘transition period’ after the UK splits from Brussels.
The split over fishing is a rare sign of dissent in the SNP.
Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: ‘For all the Nationalists’ bluster of this week, John Mason has revealed the chaos and hypocrisy at the heart of the SNP’s own position.
‘The SNP has said for years that it would rejoin the EU in a heartbeat, and that unequivocally means also signing up for the hated CFP.
‘There is only one party set on taking Scotland’s fishermen out of the CFP and that’s the Conservatives.’
Mr Mason made the comments on social media site Twitter. After a user claimed an independent Scotland could negotiate its own fisheries deal, Mr Mason replied: ‘Correct Jim. Scotland would not rejoin EU if we did not get a good deal for our fishing sector. That would be a red line, deal-breaker.
‘Fishing is not important for Westminster, so they have and will bargain fishing rights against higher priorities like Gibraltar.’
EU member states have to sign up to the CFP, which is hated by the Scottish fisheries industry – it can catch only around 40 per cent of the fish in UK coastal waters.
This is in comparison to Iceland, for example, which is not in the EU or subject to the CFP, and which lands about 95 per cent of the fish in its waters.
The SNP’s official position is that Scotland would seek to secure full EU membership if the country breaks from Britain.
In the 2014 White Paper on independence, the SNP proposed that Scotland would continue as an EU member in the event of a Yes vote – although this was disputed amid claims the country would have to ‘join the queue’ and adhere to a stricter set of rules. Asked about Mr Mason’s remarks, a spokesman for Miss Sturgeon said: ‘There is one party and one government that is guilty of selling out Scotland’s fishermen and it’s the Conservatives.
‘I have seen John Mason’s tweet and that’s frankly – in terms of what’s happened over the last few days – got no relevance at all.
‘It’s the Tories that have sold out Scotland’s fishermen.
‘I am not going to start talking about independence referendum issues, we are not in an independence referendum campaign. It’s quite clear these are desperate efforts to turn this back and make it look somehow our issue or our fault – it’s not. It’s the Tories who are absolutely, 100 per cent culpable.’
He added: ‘Norway is a good example of a country that is outside the EU but in the single market, and outside the CFP.
‘The UK Government appear to be so cack-handed that they have managed to get themselves into a position that is worse than any other country in or outside the EU, as the example of Norway shows.’
‘Chaos and hypocrisy’