May hits back at SNP over ‘sell-out’ of fishermen
Theresa May has defended her Brexit deal as she rejected claims she is “selling out” the Scottish fishing industry.
The Prime Minister said the EU withdrawal agreement would ensure the UK leaves the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and becomes an independent coastal state.
The SNP’S Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said the Scottish fishing industry had been “duped” by the Conservatives.
But Mrs May said it was the SNP, not her government at Westminster, that was “selling out” fishermen with its plan to remain in the CFP.
Following EU withdrawal, the UK will no longer be part of the CFP, which is unpopular with the industry in Scotland because it provides quotas allowing fishing boats from other EU countries to operate in the North Sea.
Published last week, the UK government’s draft agreement on post-brexit relations with the European Union, which says the UK will become an independent coastal nation, was given a cautious welcome by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.
Addressing MPS in the House of Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister said the CFP had “failed” Britain’s coastal communities.
Leaving the EU would allow the UK to “take back full sovereign control over our waters”, she said.
And she said the EU had
0 The CFP is unpopular in the Scottish fishing industry
failed in its attempts to link overall access to markets to access to fisheries.
But Mr Blackford said: “Here we are again with another sell-out of the Scottish fishing
industry by a Tory government.
“Under this agreement, fishing boats registered in Northern Ireland would continue to gain zero tariff access to the EU and UK markets, but fishing boats registered in Scotland and other parts of the UK would not.
“We now know that the EU will start negotiations based on existing quota shares. That’s not taking back control of our waters, it’s the EU exercising an effective veto.
“Scottish fishing communities have been duped once again by the Conservatives. We cannot accept this sell-out by the Conservatives.”
The Prime Minister responded: “[Mr Blackford] talked about a sell-out of Scottish fishermen – the real sell out of Scottish fishermen is the SNP’S policy to stay in the CFP.
“Who is it that’s been standing up for Scottish fishermen in this House? It’s Conservative Scottish backbenchers. All the SNP want to do is stay in the CFP and that indeed would be a sell-out of Scottish fishermen.”
At the weekend, French president Emmanuel Macron suggested that without compromise on fishing, the UK would struggle to achieve a wider trade deal.
Yesterday a Downing Street spokesman said that if the EU “closed its mind” to the UK position on fisheries, it would put it in breach of its duty of good faith under the agreement.