Scottish fishing leaders accuse UK Government of betrayal over reports of a multi-year EU fisheries deal. Photo: Sean McConville
Fishermen Condemn Reported Defence Deal at Cost of UK Fishing Rights
The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) and the Shetland Fishermen’s Association (SFA) have issued a scathing rebuke to the UK Government amid reports that ministers are preparing to trade away fishing rights in exchange for access to a €150 billion EU defence fund.
Responding to coverage in The Times and The Sun, SFF Chief Executive Elspeth Macdonald said:
“If true, it is ludicrous that the UK Government has caved in to French demands for a multi-year fisheries deal with fixed quotas, sacrificing part of the UK’s national food security for the production of bombs and bullets.”
Macdonald went on to criticise the apparent disregard for the industry’s concerns:
“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.”
The reported deal—linking defence industry access to EU arms contracts with further concessions on UK fishing quotas—has triggered political backlash. The Sun on Sunday claimed France is threatening to block a landmark UK-EU security pact unless more EU access to UK waters is granted.
One insider was quoted as saying the government should “pick the big industry” if forced to choose between fisheries and defence—a view slammed as short-sighted by industry leaders and Brexit-supporting MPs.
Macdonald said the public would see through the trade-off:
“This craven capitulation will be deeply unpopular right across the country, particularly in our coastal and island communities which depend on the sea for their jobs and future prospects.”
Despite denials from UK officials that any firm deal has been struck, the backlash underscores the enduring political potency of fisheries access in post-Brexit Britain.
Macdonald concluded:“Rather than protecting the interests of our fisheries, as a government spokesman is quoted as saying, ministers are actively harming them.”
Shetland Fishermen’s Association Slams Reported Fishing Concessions in UK-EU Defence Talks
James Anderson, chairman of the Shetland Fishermen’s Association, has issued a scathing response to reports that the UK Government may be offering fishing concessions to the EU in exchange for access to the EU’s €150 billion defence fund.
He said:
“If true, this report is more or less suggesting that the UK returns to being in the much-maligned Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), with a multi-annual deal condemning us to fixed quotas year after year.
“Ministers clearly haven’t got a clue about the impact on Scottish fishing grounds – and the people whose livelihoods depend on them – or they would not be agreeing to this as a way forward. Food security should be part of our national security, and the interests of one industry should not be traded off against those of another, no matter how small.”
Source: Press Release
