‘Third PM to sell us out’: The risk to Starmer if he fails fishermen in Brexit reset

‘Third PM to sell us out’: The risk to Starmer if he fails fishermen in Brexit reset



Posted by theipaper

42 comments

  1. Fishing leaders have hit back at plans to concede further access to European boats, saying [Keir Starmer will be “selling the industry down the river”](https://inews.co.uk/news/uk-fishermen-brexit-warning-keir-starmer-election-3117713?srsltid=AfmBOorA0rUxnI7Y58EuDxzA1kAXD6tQE3_wxLMkfsGLzA7ncguHMdMw&ico=in-line_link) if a new post-Brexit deal doesn’t bring in benefits for UK fisheries.

    The Government is reported to be close to a major trade deal with the EU which would bolster the UK’s defence industry – [in return for greater European access to British fishing.](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/soft-brexit-defence-deal-risk-eu-ditch-fishing-demands-3644406?srsltid=AfmBOopw6MwDBp0zCLjUu1RW4RGatMICjOTM5tNZ6svBUMqAykq64_GT&ico=in-line_link)

    Mike Cohen, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, (NFFO) said fishing “became a political football during the [Brexit negotiations.”](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/forget-soft-brexit-strike-trade-deal-with-trump-eu-starmer-3643449?srsltid=AfmBOoo06caXQ_qvhb6z-DCimirP5C-NDa__3WMz9tbvIvnStfMdsXSA&ico=in-line_link)

    “If a deal is done and fishing doesn’t benefit from this, then people will be furious,” he said.

    “This is all absolutely still to play for. The Government is telling us they are determined to do good deal for us. If they don’t, then we will have been let down very, very badly.”

    Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said it would be “ludicrous” for the UK to[ “cave in to French demands for a multi-year fisheries deal](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/fishing-rights-key-uk-brexit-negotiationseu-3333885?srsltid=AfmBOopAUS6fg6pD-5aFUkvsK6m6HSjPIDpOE8WTbmgggRIIkdGum3ww&ico=in-line_link) with fixed quotas, sacrificing part of the UK’s national food security for the production of bombs and bullets.”

    “We patiently set out our position directly to ministers, but it would appear they have chosen to ignore our views and Sir Keir Starmer looks set to become the third Prime Minister to sell out the fishing industry after Edward Heath in 1973 and Boris Johnson in 2020,” she said.

    Heath was accused of trading fishing waters for access to the European Common Market, while Johnson’s 2020 Brexit deal agreed that just 25 per cent of the value of fish caught in UK waters would be returned to British fishermen, to the anger of industry leaders.

    “We know the public is very supportive of our industry here in Scotland… and this craven capitulation will be deeply unpopular right across the country but particularly in our coastal and island communities which depend on the sea for their jobs and future prospects,” Macdonald added.

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  3. I never get the fascination with the UK fishing industry. Can someone explain to me why it’s so important to deserve the amount of press coverage it’s received over the years?

  4. I would argue the fisherman sold out there own industry by voting for Brexit so only have themselves to blame.

  5. To add to the chorus. How many uk fishermen sold their rights to overseas operators? Who overfished our waters to the brink of collapse?

  6. these people sold themselves out when they believed the brexit lies

  7. Nigel Farage sold you out mate, with his consistent lies and the gullible idiots who believed them. You’re now just a bargaining chip to try and get the country back where we were before Brexshit.

  8. Are the same people voting for Brexit? Ha. They sold themselves out.

    Lemme guess, they are voting for Reform now…

  9. The cost of owned media.

    Cornwall lost so much more income leaving the EU.

    The fishing quoters are an environmental element to secure fish stocks.

    I wish no ill harm on British fisherman, but they seem to place importance of their position over everyone elses. Why are their needs, being a 0.01% of uk population, far more important that the rest?

  11. You got exactly what you voted for.
    Stop complaining and make the best of it.

  13. There’s no good outcome from Brexit. Simply less awful ones.

  14. “New deal ‘must bring benefits for fishing’”

    Simplicity itself… Rejoin… Every delay in that just punish people more as the brexiters wanted…

  15. Why is there always such a fuss over fishermen? Doesn’t fishing account for 0.03% of the UK economy? And didn’t most fishermen vote for brexit in the first place?

  17. Let the fishing industry die already. It’s extremely harmful for the oceans.

    People need to stop clinging onto shit that isn’t working

  19. They can go sink. Voted for Brexit, knew exactly what they were doing, now don’t like what’s happening. Too late. Too bad. Get stuffed!

  21. I would politely ask the fishermen to take a run and jump, respectfully.

  22. I don’t care about the fishermen, they helped screwed the rest of us over

  23. Fishing is what, o.o3% of the economy? So there are many many more important industries to protect ahead of fishing

  24. Just for reference because these discussions are usually lacking in any sort of context – The UK Fishing industry is worth in total ~£1bn. £1.1bn if you want to be generous.

    Just for comparison the Silicon Rubber industry here is worth £1.2bn. The Shooting industry, things like rich folks going up to Scotland to do some deer stalking, is worth about £3.3bn. The Theater industry is worth about £2.4bn.

    I wish as a country we’d pick out totems and wedge issues that… y’know… actually benefited the country and held some real value?

    I mean what have we spent the last few months discussing? The steel industry is also worth ~£1.7bn and the blast furnaces in the Scunthorpe plant were built in the fucking 1950s lol. Why are we wasting all this time, energy, and effort trying to keep corpses alive that hold no real proper value in a modern developed economy like ours? Can you fucking imagine if the UK Pharma industry got this much attention? Genuinely we’d probably have fucking cured cancer by now or some equally wild developments.

  25. There is only one way to fix this mess and it’s start by admitting Brexit was a mistake.

  27. What I find ironic is the fishermen complaining about Brexit after the vast majority of them voted for Brexit. It’s as if leaving the largest single market in the world was a terrible idea

  28. What I find ironic is the fishermen complaining about Brexit after the vast majority of them voted for Brexit. It’s as if leaving the largest single market in the world was a terrible idea

  31. Oh fuck right off.

    They sold themselves out when they voted for brexit

  32. These fishermen largely fucked themselves over and I have zero sympathy for their plight. 

  35. Pleasing fisherman should be low priority for the government

  36. Those same fishermen that sold off most of their fishing rights to foreigners now complaining. If this moves us closer to Europe and removes any restriction for defence industry which will be the fastest growing industry in Europe for some time to come it can only be good for us.

  37. can we please stop giving the fishermen a bloody veto on politics?

    for context of how small of an impact they have, fishing makes up 0.03% of the British GDP
    Thats not the 1% its not the 0.1% that people now complain about its a minute 1billion pound industry which and this is important, is not being killed off.

    Yes its difficult for these fishermen to now share territory but its not fair that they are able to single handily able to stall foreign policy for the rest of us.

  39. To the U.K. fishing lobby I’d like to point out that there’s more of the rest of us than them; so if selling them out means better deals for everyone else…

    It’s the ‘The Will of The People’

    I’m sure they’ll understand; paybacks a bitch though isn’t it?

  40. Why does an industry worth only around £1billion have so much say? They are a fraction of a percent in terms of value to the British economy.

  41. Leave the fish in the sea! We can protect and regenerate 70% of the earths surface by just not eating fish. 

  42. Classic reddit users. You hate anyone who voted leave so much you’re actually supporting conceding to French politicians demands.

    The EU is demanding fishing access which they did not demand from other, non EU members to gain the same pact. This is purely a French play to gain one over on the brits, and you’re happy to support it.

    The EU is acting in bad faith here. ​

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