'Third PM to sell us out': The risk to Starmer if he fails fishermen in Brexit reset (2025)

Fishing leaders have hit back at plans to concede further access to European boats, saying Keir Starmer will be “selling the industry down the river” if a new post-Brexit deal doesn’t bring in benefits for UK fisheries.

The Government is reported to be close to a major trade deal with the EU which would bolster the UK’s defence industry – in return for greater European access to British fishing.

Mike Cohen, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, (NFFO) said fishing “became a political football during the Brexit negotiations.”

“If a deal is done and fishing doesn’t benefit from this, then people will be furious,” he said.

“This is all absolutely still to play for. The Government is telling us they are determined to do good deal for us. If they don’t, then we will have been let down very, very badly.”

Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said it would be “ludicrous” for the UK to “cave 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.”

“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,” she said.

Heath was accused of trading fishing waters for access to the European Common Market, while Johnson’s 2020 Brexit deal agreed that just 25 per cent of the value of fish caught in UK waters would be returned to British fishermen, to the anger of industry leaders.

“We know the public is very supportive of our industry here in Scotland… and this craven capitulation will be deeply unpopular right across the country but particularly in our coastal and island communities which depend on the sea for their jobs and future prospects,” Macdonald added.

What is the new EU-UK deal – and how does it affect fisheries?

The exact terms of the fishing agreement are not clear, and industry insiders told The i Paper the deal was still being thrashed out.

One trade source said “there is no link between fish and defence and it would be wrong to suggest otherwise” and that an agreement would cover a “range of issues”.

However, reports indicate that defence industries will boom under the deal, while British fisheries may be forced to concede long-term access to Europe for little gain.

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Under the deal, British firms will reportedly be allowed to bid for the new €150bn (£129bn) EU defence fund after negotiators made “significant concessions” to Brussels on fishing rights.

British companies such as BAE Systems and Babcock wereoriginally excluded from the fund while other non-EU countries such as Norway, South Korea and Japan were included, because the UK doesn’t have a defence and security pact with the EU.

Reports indicate that British negotiators will grant the EU a long term deal on fish access.

It would also freeze fishing quotas at their current level rather than reduce them further, reports say, after the Brexit deal reduced the quota European fishermen could access British waters by 25 per cent.

The 2020 post-Brexit deal gave European vessels the ability to fish in UK waters up to six miles from the shore. The deal was fixed for five years, and after that would be renegotiated each year.

While it also granted British vessels the same access in Europe, “we don’t really use that as much, because the biggest fishing grounds are in UK waters,” Cohen said.

Europe has long been wanting to secure this access for longer, not least because France in particular is heavily dependent on UK waters and wanted stability rather than yearly changes.

New deal ‘must bring benefits for fishing’

UK industry sources said EU marine officials had been adamant during talks before Christmas that they wanted “permanent access to UK waters, that they weren’t going to have to give anything for this, and there will be trade consequences for the UK if they didn’t get it.”

Cohen said the recent talks could be seen as a climbdown by the EU, as they now appear to be negotiating access for a fixed period of time, rather than a demanding permanent access.

“If in return for that, the fishing industry gets something positive, then that’s something we’d be interested to hear more about.”

But any further concessions to European fishermen without benefits to British businesses would be “selling the industry down the river”, said Mike Park, chief executive of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association.

“We all understand the situation with the macro defense and security issues, but it is ludicrous that… fish and fishing is being drawn into the debate,” he said.

“If there is a long term deal to be done with the EU, we’re not against that, so long as it gives the UK fishing industry more opportunities. But if the discussions are where we give the EU long-term security, but we get nothing else in return, that is just selling the industry down the river.”

For secure and long term access to British waters, Park would want to see greater shares of saithe and cod fished in UK waters going to British fishermen. However, he is not optimistic.

“It seems that there’s bigger deals at play and the fishing industry is just something else that can be thrown in there to smooth the waters.”

‘Wrong’ to compare fishing and defence

While the defence industry is worth £14.5bn a year in exports compared to £1.7bn in fish sales, fishing leaders pointed out that scores of coastal communities are sustained by fishing and that it bolsters the UK’s food security.

“There are lots of people saying that defence is worth however many billion, and fishing is tiny next to that. But it’s not the same thing. We’re not talking about a handful of really big businesses with huge foreign shareholders. We’re talking about a lot of small local businesses that are often the main source of employment in a small community,” said Cohen.

“If you take them away, you mean that people can’t pay their rent anymore, pay their bills. They’re not going to be able to stay living in these places, keeping local shops up. The knock on effects of taking out a core economic activity from a community that’s been left by the wayside is quite important.”

The value of the fishing industry is frequently “diminished by just looking at the first sale value of fish – what’s paid on the quay side,” Cohen said.

Nick Howell, the commissioner of Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall, said that catches at his harbour would generate around £40m this year – 70 per cent of the value of all fish landed in Cornwall.

But that when accounting for the subsequent effect of work for “processors, engineers, boat owners”, research from local fishing bodies found that the overall contribution from the Cornish fishing industry was closer to £174m.

“We’re all very cynical about [the negotiations], because they don’t care,” he said. “We haven’t even had the chance to have a voice in this.”

A Government spokesperson said: “The upcoming UK-EU Summit will cover a range of issues as we look to build a stable and positive relationship that aligns with our national interest.

“No agreements have been reached and we have always been clear we will protect the interests of our fisheries.

“The UK has long been a leader in the defence and security of the Continent and we stand ready to negotiate a Security and Defence Partnership Agreement with the EU.”

Fishing ‘sold a pack of lies’ on Brexit

Should the deal fail to bring benefits for British fishing, it will spell another blow for an industry which was promised a renewal under Brexit that has so far failed to materialise.

During a visit to the harbour town of Peterhead, Scotland, in 2024, fishermen told The i Paper they felt “betrayed” by the promises made by Brexiteers.

Despite comprising just 2 per cent of the UK’s GDP, the industry played a major role in Brexit campaigning, with Nigel Farage joining a flotilla of pro-Brexit fishing boats up the Thames and Boris Johnson pledging to give the UK “full control of our waters”.

“If they get better access to fishing waters than they’ve got now, you might as well sell the UK fishing industry,” said fishermen James Stephen, 61, who has spent 44 years at sea as part of his family business.

“There’s nothing to give now,” he said of future negotiations over fishing access. “The industry is so tight, and the hardship we’re facing with lack of quota and opportunity. It can’t take any more pain. It’s struggling as it is.”

Mr Stephen said he wassold a “pack of lies” by Brexit campaigners and would never vote Conservative again.