{"id":40985,"date":"2025-04-22T11:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T11:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/40985\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T11:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T11:47:07","slug":"fishing-representatives-brand-fish-for-arms-eu-deal-absolutely-ludicrous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/40985\/","title":{"rendered":"Fishing representatives brand fish-for-arms EU deal \u2018absolutely ludicrous\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" class=\"attachment-single-entry size-single-entry wp-post-image\" alt=\"Fishing representatives brand fish-for-arms EU deal \u2018absolutely ludicrous\u2019\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/SFF.jpg\" data- data-uk-img=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Scottish Fishing Federation chief executive Elspeth Macdonald, second from right.<\/p>\n<p>Fishing representatives have reacted with alarm to unconfirmed reports that the UK government is wagering access to British waters for an arms deal with the EU.<\/p>\n<p>After months of unease, reports first emerged over the weekend that Prime Minister Keir Starmer was closing in on access to a \u20ac150 billion EU defence fund \u2014 in return, at least in part, for a more generous, multi-year access arrangement for European fishermen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf true, it is ludicrous that the UK government has caved in to French demands,\u201d said Elspeth MacDonald, chief executive of the Scottish Fishing Federation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbsolutely ludicrous indeed,\u201d said the Shetland Fishermen\u2019s Association.<\/p>\n<p>The Cabinet Office did not confirm reports \u2014 published first by The Sun, latterly by The Times and other outlets \u2014 and restated instead that fish and defence are not linked in any negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo agreements have been reached and we have always been clear we will protect the interests of our fisheries,\u201d the government said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe upcoming UK-EU Summit will cover a range of issues as we look to build a stable and positive relationship that aligns with our national interest,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe UK has long been a leader in the defence and security of the Continent and we stand ready to negotiate a security and defence partnership agreement with the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Britain\u2019s existing EU fisheries arrangement expires this summer.<\/p>\n<p>If reported details are to be believed, the current version of a deal would stretch over multiple years, unlike most quota which are re-evaluated annually.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis 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,\u201d said Ms Elspeth.<\/p>\n<p>Read the full story in this week\u2019s issue of The Shetland Times, out Friday April 25th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scottish Fishing Federation chief executive Elspeth Macdonald, second from right. Fishing representatives have reacted with alarm to unconfirmed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[23247,2000,299,5187,6481],"class_list":{"0":"post-40985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-arms","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-fishing"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114381458210446697","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}