Our fishermen cannot afford another disastrous deal
3 min read
The promises made to fishermen in the Brexit campaign were bold. The delivery has been anything but.
Many predicted that the Conservative government would sell out the fishing industry on leaving the EU, much like an earlier Conservative government had done when joining the EU and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) decades before.
Despite this, our fishermen still showed up en-masse to support and campaign for Brexit – under the promise of exclusive use of our 12 nautical miles and a better share of fishing opportunities. In places like Cornwall, the CFP had given the lion’s share of all our catches to other EU states, leaving our local fleets to struggle on shares as low as eight to 10 per cent of the total allowable catch.
The then Conservative government boasted of ‘holding all the cards’ – only to fold when it mattered most
During the campaign, and perhaps for the first time in UK fishing history, senior members of the government visited fishing fleets, leapt onto fishing boats in far-flung ports, calling fishermen to arms to regain control of our waters and follow them towards the better times that Brexit would deliver.
Against this backdrop it is easy to see why so many fishermen believed that, for once, their plight was finally being taken seriously – a government was willing to fight to recover fishing opportunities given away decades before. Some who had campaigned against joining the CFP returned in the flotilla up the Thames over 40 years later, this time campaigning to leave. Sons and daughters joined fathers, side by side, echoing protests from decades past, carrying their grandfathers’ battles forward.
But in the end, fishing was handed a disastrous deal, rivalled only by going back in time to the betrayal of prime minister Ted Heath’s deal, which gave away so much of UK fishing opportunity in the first place.
As the Trade and Co-operation Agreement between the UK and the EU rolled out, exporters in our supply chains faced huge barriers of new home-grown red tape. Many exporters stopped exporting altogether as it was no longer viable. The knock-on effect of fewer wholesalers competing in the market led to lower prices for fishermen. Some shellfish businesses lost their ability to export products entirely.
All of these failings were compounded by the unpreparedness of the government, which had negotiated the deal yet failed to adequately identify these risks and mitigate them. Clear, timely information ahead of new systems and requirements rolling out, user-friendly online portals for navigating documentation, and a sufficient number of vets with consistent service and pricing across the UK would have made a real difference.
Almost immediately the same Conservative coastal MPs who had championed Brexit as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to right all the wrongs in fishing began spinning the result as a staged deal, with a chance to renegotiate in 2026 – then, they promised, all would be delivered. But these self-proclaimed champions of fishing are yet to explain: how, exactly, will the UK persuade EU nations, whose fishing fleets have benefited immensely from access to our waters, to accept less in 2026?
The then-Conservative government boasted of “holding all the cards” – only to fold when it mattered most. In the end, our fishermen were handed a cruel and crushing deal, one that bore little resemblance to the pie crust promises they were sold about how the time of plenty was coming.
We now have a strong champion for UK fishing in our fisheries minister, Daniel Zeichner. I wish him and our Defra team safe seas and fair winds as they work to better the agreement.
Anna Gelderd, Labour MP for South East Cornwall
