Mike Hookem MEP and “Fishing For Leave” have been warning about this sell-out, writing this and campaigning about for months. Now it’s become evident (see e.g. this article): Ms May’s government is going to sell out our remaining Fishery Industry, using it as sacrifice in the Brexit negotiations – just as her predecessor, Mr Edward Heath did when negotiating our EU entry. With few exceptions, The Tories are apparently ok with that (‘Fish and chips? So uncouth, my dear!?) and Labour MPs couldn’t care less: our fishermen do not belong to the preferred Labour clientele and are mostly white men – and it’s “Wimmins Day” today anyway …
Below are two statements which should help to fire you up. The first is a press statement from Mike Hookem MEP which, surprise surprise, doesn’t get a look-in in the MSM:
Mike Hookem, a member of the powerful PECH (Fisheries) committee in the European Parliament who has been campaigning for Britain to claim it’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and to end the hated Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) – said:
“The EU have confirmed that UK fishing is the price of post-Brexit trade deal. New European Council guidelines demand “reciprocal access and resources” in UK fishing waters for market access, blasting the European Council after it demanded “reciprocal access to fishing waters and resources” in return for granting a post-Brexit, zero-tariff trade deal.*) and observing on the latest European Council demand which came in response to Theresa May’s Mansion House speech last week, in which the Prime Minister signalled she was ready to capitulate to EU demands to keep British waters open to EU fishing vessels following the UK’s EU exit.
This is nothing more than the EU bullyboys showing their true colours and trying to strip the UK of one of its richest natural resources. I have been saying for many months that EU institutions would make continued access to British waters and fishing resources a bargaining chip in Brexit negotiations, yet, all warnings have been ignored by ministers.
According to the UK’s Marine Management Organisation (MMO), EU vessels caught 683,000 tonnes of fish in British waters in the last year, worth over £484 million before processing.
With a weak Prime Minister and feeble range of Ministers at the helm of negotiations, what hope do our already embattled and embittered coastal communities have of a post-Brexit renascence for the UK fishing industry.
All my warnings have fallen on deaf ears, while the Government has time and again refused to give any details on their promise to leave the hated CFP.
How will leaving the CFP make any positive difference for the British fishing industry if all the rules are still set by Brussels, along with the UK’s share of what can be caught in our own waters!
It’s a disgraceful situation and nothing more than a grab to secure EU dominance of UK fishing for many years to come.
The European Council’s latest demand acts as confirmation that unless Theresa ‘the Appeaser’ can show some steel, and stand up to the EU bullyboys, then we don’t have any hope of reclaiming our seas and keeping what remains of our ravaged fishing industry.
However, I’m in no doubt that Mrs May will roll-over and allow the EU to continue its dominance of the UK’s fishing industry even after we leave the bloc.
Given these ridiculous demands, my message to Theresa May is to show some British spirit and tell the EU where to go.
It is about time the Prime Minister realised that the proud British people are sick and tired of being pushed around by the ‘cultured thugs’ of the EU and reclaiming our fishing industry would be a bloody good place to start the fightback!
*) European Council response to Theresa May’s Mansion House speech:
”As regards the core of the economic relationship, the European Council confirms its readiness to initiate work towards a free trade agreement (FTA), to be finalised and concluded once the UK is no longer a Member State. Such an agreement cannot offer the same benefits as Membership and cannot amount to participation in the Single Market or parts thereof. This agreement would address: […] i) trade in goods, with the aim of covering all sectors, which should be subject to zero tariffs and no quantitative restrictions with appropriate accompanying rules of origin. In this context, existing reciprocal access to fishing waters and resources should be maintained.”
We have published appeals and articles from “Fishing For Leave” regularly on this issue. Here is their statement:
The EU demands in the leaked EU Council Draft Guidelines for the 22nd March that a condition of a Free Trade Agreement is that:
“existing reciprocal access to fishing waters and resources should be maintained”.
Fishermen were scathing in their criticism of the EUs opportunism, cynicism and hypocrisy. F4: highlight that the UK government caving to this demand is a big “acid test” of whether the government has any intention or resolve of fulfilling its manifesto pledge to leave the CFP in March 2019 as Fisheries Minister George Eustice and DEFRA Secretary of State have continually reiterated. Spokesman Alan Hastings says:
This is cynical and hypocritical in equally big measures. Nowhere else is access to fisheries included as negotiating collateral for a free trade agreement. For an EU that’s keen to avoid ‘cherry picking’ they are after the sweetest of them all – to continue pillaging £3-4 billion pounds of fish from our rich resources that were sacrificed to the EU to join.
That means there is no legal basis for this demand! Article 50 unequivocally terminates the CFP on March 2019 and all our waters and resources automatically return to us on withdrawal. The only way fishing can be included is if Our government capitulates to this demand and sacrifices what’s left of Britain’s fishing.
The EU has put a gun to Mrs May’s head with this demand which is now an immediate “acid test” that she either resoundingly rebuffs or capitulates to. The time for platitudes is over. Mrs May either backs Mr Gove and Eustice’s welcome calls to scrap the CFP on March 2019 and tells the EU to ‘sod off’ to fulfil her government’s commitment to leave the CFP or capitulates and sacrifices fishing a 2nd time which would see the conservatives obliterated in coastal constituencies from Cornwall to NE Scotland.
It’s time again to fire up your computers, sharpen your pencils, get your biros and fountain pens out and write to your MPs!
The way I see this going if we allow the EU to continue fishing in our waters after we leave will inevitably result in the resumption of the COD WARS. Is this government that weak that they cannot see this? Every effort must be made to support Mike hookem. So come on UKIP help him and this country. We voted out with no half measures and that includes the FISHING INDUSTRY.
My comment goes back to N.Farage days. And its as true now as it was then. German exports are primarily cars and steel products. That’s our bargaining point. ( Where we can compete anyway, it’s only theEU stopping us ) . The fish thing is an annoyance to distract us.
It is not only fish, but particularly the continental shelf under the fish, with its oil, gas, minerals, coal, and so on.
They MUST NOT be allowed to get anywhere near. As with NI. That’s our regeneration. And far future.
She must be stopped at all costs. It would be pure, pure, pure, malicous betrayal .
M H. If I may be so bold. There are possible avenues to explore. Talk to Norway.Add sovereignty over our seas to your portfolio. Do what Elizabeth 1 did with her fishing fleets. Talk to Banks, Not casino banks but proper ones. Also talk to Gove.
Tg to follow up on Viv’s advice that we write to our MPs may I suggest a targeted approach. For starters every kipper in Michael Gove’s constituency should write to him.
Regarding cars and steel, we should walk away and then trade under WTO rules. We would then have the power to impose tariffs. Not only would we be able to protect and grow our economy and provide jobs to our people but also create a revenue stream enabling us to reduce taxes and improve everyone’s lives and make Britain rich again.
We need to expose ‘free trade’ for the lie that it is. It comes at a price.
Fishing for Leave with UKIP and others should stage second “Armada” demonstration on the Thames exactly like that held before the Referendum.
That should alert the electorate to the betrayal being planned by May and let them know that UKIP is still to be reckoned with.
Will that obnoxious, smelly hypocritical swine Geldof dare to show his treacherous nose? We should have a fire boat in the fleet waiting to give him a good dose of fishing medicine.
While Spain and Portugal are heavily dependent on our seas (having overfished and depleted their own beyond redemption) the EU will not let go of this resource.
I cannot see May and any of her supine Cabinet having the strength to resist EU determination on this matter.
The woman is a feeble excuse for a PM and couldn’t lead a dog up the garden path.
The conservative party just cannot be trusted to negotiate their way out of a paper bag let alone the European Union. Those members and past voters of UKIP who returned to their previous political allegiances have to realise this. Yes, we won the referendum, but the war has not been won yet by any stretch of the imagination. We are lumbered with a prime minister who is so inept at her job that she cannot exercise any discipline or control over her own ministers who despite the meeting at Chequers two weeks ago, are still briefing against government policy over the EU negotiations, Hammond being an example of this. When is she going to have the backbone and strength of character to reign this individual. When is she going to have the resolve, backbone and strength of character to stand up to the European Union and the Irish government. It is high time that she and her clueless government smelt the coffee and walk out of these silly meaningless one sided negotiations, and resort to WTO rules. We want a clean Brexit and no half measures. Our fishing industry must not be sacrificed for any reason. This is why we need a strong UKIP voice to hold Theresa May and her inept government to account. No one will do it, not Michael Gove or anybody else. The time is ripe for UKIP to get behind the ‘OUT NOW’ campaign, the campaign that was much talked about at the Torquay conference, but has since more or less hit the buffers.
This, just now ( acknowledgements to The Guardian )
A response today from George Eustace to a Parliamentary question:-
‘Yes. I simply say this is an EU position. They currently benefit considerably from access to UK waters. At the moment the UK fleet access around 100,000 tonnes of fish in EU waters. The EU access 700,000 tonnes of fish from UK waters. So, they would say that, wouldn’t they? But it is not a position that the UK government shares.’
Are the government growing a pair at last?
One wonders where Michael Gove is in all of this.
In the lead-up to the referendum I attended a rally at a fish restaurant where he delivered a passionate address in which he told us what had happened to his father’s family fishing business as a result of our entry into the ‘common market’. One gathered that it was the main reason he was supporting Vote Leave.
One also gathered that by voting Leave we would get our fish back.
Where is he now? What happened to that passion?
It is becoming clearer by the day that, with the Tories running things, we will at best be half-in half-out when we leave.
Then it will be up to us to finish the job.
UKIP. OUT NOW. OUT ALL THE WAY.