The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Royal Navy could help Scots fleet post Brexit
MP suggests fishing industry protection
ALISTER Jack has suggested the Royal Navy could be deployed to protect Scottish waters from EU fishermen after Brexit.
The Scottish secretary also dismissed concerns over a no-deal exit and said he was sure “ports will all continue to flow much as they do now”.
Asked how the fishing industry would be protected, Mr Jack replied: “Well, we have a thing called the Royal Navy.”
Alister Jack has suggested the Royal Navy should be deployed to protect Scottish waters from EU fishermen after Brexit. The Scottish secretary was given huge applause for the comment at the Tory party conference in Manchester yesterday as he also dismissed concerns over a no-deal exit as “absolute nonsense”.
As part of a panel discussion on strengthening the Union, he also called for the creation of a bank holiday to celebrate the Union and suggested abolishing “one of the left-wing ones” to accommodate it.
The Dumfries and Galloway MP also urged ministerial colleagues to go on more visits and “champion the cause” of unionism.
He said: “I think over 12 years of an SNP government, I feel that we have retreated, Westminster has retreated from Scotland too much and we need to get more UK Government ministers from BEIS, DCMS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport) up there championing the cause and getting the message across and showing the people of Scotland that we are truly one United Kingdom.”
Mr Jack cast aside fears about the impact of a no-deal, many of which emanate from the UK Government’s own Operation Yellowhammer preparation papers. He said: “I don’t subscribe to this theory that very much different is going to happen.
“I think the ports will all continue to flow much as they do now, to be honest.
“The idea that suddenly we are not going to get medicines in, or all these other ridiculous scare stories, I can’t see why.
“This idea that everyone is going to seize up and it’s going to be a disaster, especially if it comes down to a no-deal Brexit, I think is absolute nonsense. Business will find a way through.”
Asked how the fishing industry would be protected in a no-deal, he said: “Well, we have a thing called the Royal Navy.”
Mr Jack ended by saying: “I am also absolutely sure that after we leave the EU the Scots will be in no mind to leave the United Kingdom and give those assets back to the EU.”
Mike Park, chief executive of the Scottish White Fish Producers’ Association, said: “These days, we have a lot of modern technology, such as vessel-monitoring systems.
“We’re very aware of where vessels are at any particular time and we have aeroplanes with infrared equipment, so I would imagine that all that combined with serious infringement penalties would mean nobody would want to break the rule of law.
“One would hope that with all these deterrents in place, that it would never get to the point where the Navy is required.”