Guido is told this morning by multiple sources close to the UK-EU negotiations that Starmer has made a “massive sellout” on fishing rights in order to get the deal over the line. Negotiations were slowing down yesterday evening but accelerated after midnight as Starmer made a series of “concessions in the early hours” particularly on the length of access enjoyed by EU member states to UK waters. None of this is good for Starmer’s attempt to cosplay as right-wing…
Earlier this week Mike Cohen, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, had warned the government to hold its nerve on the issue. He told the Financial Times Starmer should refuse an EU demand to extend extant access arrangements to British waters. The paper reported: “Cohen said EU fishermen took about £500mn of fish each year from UK waters under a post-Brexit deal that comes up for renewal in 2026.” Meanwhile the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation wrote a letter to the PM urging caution – its chief executive told the BBC that “if another multi-year deal is on the table, that must come with some transfer of meaningful commercially viable fishing opportunities to the UK.” Starmer is going to suffer a huge backlash on this…
UPDATE: 12 year fishing rights confirmed. A major sellout…
UPDATE II: Nigel Farage says that is “the end of the fishing industry.“
Paula Barker, Liverpool Wavertree MP backing Andy Burnham, told Times Radio there wouldn’t be trouble from the markets under Burnham:
“The markets will have to fall in line.”