Sir Keir Starmer owes fishermen an explanation for his “insulting and patronising” comments that the UK-EU trade deal was good for the industry, a fishing boss has said. Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF), said in a letter to the Prime Minister that he should meet skippers and crew after striking the deal.
The Government’s agreement gave EU vessels 12 years of access to UK waters, which they rely heavily on to fish their quotas. The SFF said ministers tried to “sweeten the blow” with a £360million fishing and coastal growth fund over the same period. But they said the figure “pales in comparison” with the £6billion worth of fish that the EU will take from UK waters in that time.
Ms Macdonald said: “It was both insulting and patronising to hear you and your ministers tell us this was a good deal for fishing, because Scottish-farmed salmon might, if the EU decides to play ball, be exported without the need for Export Health Certificates at some undetermined point in the future.
“If your government had bothered to understand anything about the fishing industry, you would know that farmed salmon and wild capture fisheries are completely separate industries.
“You also told us, again patronisingly, that we should welcome the stability of a 12-year agreement on access. That you know what’s best for us. Yet we have spent months telling your ministers that stability in terms of access to waters is the worst possible position for the UK.
“It was the instability of the EU’s access to UK waters from 2026 that was our trump card, and you have not only thrown it away, but ripped it up into tiny pieces before doing so.
“Your reaction also showed a lack of understanding of the 2020 agreement and how international fisheries agreements work, as well as a misplaced lack of faith – that we don’t share – in your negotiating teams to deliver better quota shares for the UK through annual negotiations.”
Environment Secretary Steve Reed described the EU agreement as a “reasonably good deal” for the UK fishing sector.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir said the UK’s fishing deal with the European Union provides “stability” as he pledged that the new trade deal would also “cut the price of the weekly shop”.
The Prime Minister told the Commons: “We have a new SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary) deal, as promised in our manifesto, that will cut the price of the weekly shop, more money in the pockets of working people, less red tape for our exporters.
“No more lorry drivers queuing for 16 hours at the border with rotting food in the back. No more needless checks, the inevitable consequence of their policies that made it so much harder to trade, even within our own market, between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
“And that means that British goods that have long been off the menu in Europe can regain their true place, including shellfish, hugely important in Cornwall, Devon and Scotland.
“Because not only does our deal on fish provide stability, with no increase to the amount that EU vessels can catch in British waters, it also provides a new SPS agreement, which slashes costs and red tape for our exports into the European market. We sell 70% of our seafood into that market, it is a huge opportunity which our £360million investment in British fisheries will now look to export.”