Scottish Fishermen’s Federation says EU deal is ‘disastrous’

Some sections of Scotland’s fishing business have accused Sir Keir Starmer’s executive of “capitulating” to the EU over a deal on get admission to to UK waters.

Labour ministers have agreed a 12-year deal which extends current get admission to for EU boats in change for lowered assessments and restrictions on meals exports.

The settlement used to be described as “disastrous” through the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) whilst Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes mentioned it used to be a “great betrayal of our fishing fleet”.

But fish farming frame Salmon Scotland welcomed the deal as a “slashing of red tape” which can permit Scottish merchandise and folks more straightforward get admission to to the EU.

The top minister formally introduced the deal as a part of the primary UK-EU summit, describing it as a “win-win”.

He mentioned the fishing settlement would give protection to UK get admission to and not using a build up in EU vessels, whilst different measures supposed shellfish may now be bought once more in Europe.

The new sanitary and phytosanitary settlement (SPS) would additionally get advantages different agricultural exporters whilst holidaymakers will have the ability to use eGates at some airports to chop down on passport queue wait occasions, Starmer added.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes welcomed nearer co-operation which “unpicks a small part of the damage that Brexit continues to inflict”.

But she criticised the loss of session with the Scottish executive over the fishing deal.

“Given the importance of fishing to Scotland it is also astonishing that the Scottish government was giving no warning of this great betrayal of our fishing fleet,” she mentioned.

But SFF leader government Elspeth MacDonald mentioned she used to be anxious the settlement would finish any “leverage” the United Kingdom has in long term negotiations.

She instructed BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “This is not a roll over, it’s a total capitulation to the EU and a disastrous outcome for the Scottish fishing fleet.

“The EU have obviously reneged on a deal that they signed as much as in 2020 and feature mentioned that they require to have any other multi-year deal.

“But in doing so the UK loses all its negotiating capital and all its leverage, so the EU continues to take a far bigger share of the resources in our waters than they are entitled to.

“We’ve all the time been on this place the place fishing appears to be the expendable worth for one thing else that the United Kingdom needs.”

While the deal has been criticised, it has also been welcomed in other parts of Scotland’s fishing and food production industries.

Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland, said the new agreement would help cut the time taken to get products into the EU market.

“This step forward will ease the load on our farmers, processors and the communities they give a boost to,” he mentioned.

“Scottish salmon is the United Kingdom’s greatest meals export, with robust call for within the EU, the USA and past.”

The deal also benefits shellfish producers after the EU banned British fishermen from selling live mussels, oysters, clams, cockles and scallops to its member states in 2021.

Under those rules, fishermen were previously not allowed to transport the animals to the EU unless they had already been treated in purification plants.

Mike Park, chief executive of the Scottish White Fish Association, described the deal as an “utter betrayal”.

He mentioned it used to be the “3rd time” the fishing industry had been “bought down the river,” citing decisions by former prime minister Ted Heath, who took the UK into the EU in 1973, and Boris Johnson, who negotiated its exit in the aftermath of Brexit in 2020.

Mr Park said: “We perceive the unfastened waft of meals merchandise, the EU take pleasure in that and the United Kingdom take pleasure in it.

“But here we have a massive fleet coming into UK waters and the UK fishing industry gets nothing out of it.”

Scottish Conservative MP for Gordon and Buchan, Harriet Cross, described the deal as a “surrender” and “one of the biggest acts of betrayal that our fishing industry has seen in Scotland.”

She mentioned: “Our fishermen have been used as a pawn by Keir Starmer, which will result in catastrophic consequences for our coastal communities.”

The UK executive additionally introduced a £360m fund to spend money on coastal communities as a part of the settlement.

It mentioned that may move against new generation and gear to modernise the fleet, coaching to upskill workforces and assist to “revitalise” coastal communities.

About 4,000 individuals are hired in Scotland’s business sea fishing business, in step with a Scottish executive document printed in 2023.

In 2022, it introduced £335m into the Scottish economic system, greater than part of which got here from Aberdeenshire, together with the United Kingdom’s greatest fishing port at Peterhead.

The fish farming and aquaculture industries account for approximately 2,200 jobs and introduced in £337m to the Scottish economic system in 2022.

In France, Scottish salmon was the primary non-French product to hold the “Label Rouge” mark, given to merchandise deemed to be of a “superior quality”.

Keir Starmer has described this UK-EU deal as a “win-win”. That isn’t essentially how it’s considered through each a part of the Scottish fishing business.

The sharply contrasting reactions of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation – which has accused the United Kingdom executive of “capitulation” – and Salmon Scotland, which has welcomed a deal it believes will “slash red tape”, underlines that any deal comes to trade-offs.

There is far within the general preparations that it will have to be imaginable for the Scottish executive to welcome. However, there used to be by no means going to be a bundle that may fulfill SNP ministers, as they would like a complete go back to the EU.

They will argue that the one manner their ambitions can also be accomplished is through Scottish independence. But debate over this has misplaced a lot of its earlier power.

An previous “reset” in members of the family between the United Kingdom and devolved governments has progressed how they paintings in combination.

But Scottish ministers argue that they will have to were consulted on lately’s deal, in spite of international affairs being an issue reserved to Westminster.