Scots farming and fishing chiefs eager to move on to next stage

Boris Johnson’s revised Brexit deal has been given the thumbs-up by northeast Tories, farmers and fishermen.

The prime minister’s deal has, however, been criticised by the SNP and Lib Dems who say it still risks plunging Scotland into economic chaos.

Aberdeen North SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said: “This deal is worse than Theresa May’s deal.

“It will put Scotland at a competitive disadvantage to Northern Ireland which will now have a different status.

“We put forward a similar compromise in 2016. We wanted Scotland in the single market and customs union but that was rejected out of hand.”

Inverness SNP MP Drew Hendry, meanwhile, said: “Brexit, in any form, will be deeply damaging to the Highland economy.

“We are set to lose hundreds of millions of vital EU funding, our public services and industries face unprecedented challenges because of the UK Government’s obsession with ending freedom of movement.

“Scotland did not vote for Brexit in any form and my SNP colleagues and I will not vote for a deal that would see us ripped out of the customs union and single market.”

Orkney and Shetland Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael said: “This is not a deal that anyone wanting to protect our economy or the unions that make up the United Kingdom can support.

“I am particularly c o n c e r n e d b y t h e suggestion that different rules could apply to Northern Ireland.”

The criticism that has flowed from opposition politicians was, however, dismissed by Aberdeen South Tory MP Ross Thomson.

He said: “It is a new deal that means that we finally take back control of our laws, trade, borders and money without disruption, and provides the basis of a new relationship with the EU based on free trade and friendly cooperation.”

And West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine Tory MP Andrew Bowie said: “We now have a deal that allows us to implement the result if the 2016 referendum, but that allows us to do so on good terms with our European friends and partners.

“We must now get on a deliver this.”

Moray Tory MP Douglas Ross said: “I will be supporting the deal.”

National Farmers Union Scotland president Andrew McCornick also welcomed the PM’s deal.

He said: “The revised agreement which has been found between the UK and the EU today is the first step to agreeing a new relationship with the EU which NFU Scotland believes must maintain as free and frictionless trade as possible.”

Scottish Fishermen’s Federation boss Elspeth Macdonald said: “More than three years after the referendum, we hope that Saturday marks the turning point when we can move to the next stage.”