We've served up our fish to France on a golden platter

TWO weeks and two debates, both brought and led by the Scottish Conservatives, showed that the future of Scottish fishing is at stake. Am I being overly dramatic? I don’t think so given what Keir Starmer is about to do today.

- By Tim Eagle Scottish Conservative MSP

It was with no small amount of trepidation that I entered Russell Findlay’s office for a cabinet meeting a few weeks ago.

I was about to pitch strongly that the next party business should be taken by fishing, but not only that, I was about to tell them that I should say in my speech that Boris Johnson’s fishing deal had not delivered.

I was prepared for shock horror — hadn’t we been defending the deal for years?

Some of my former MP colleagues would be fainting on the green benches — but my own experiences in the fishing town of Buckie was that while the sector is delighted to be out of the dreaded Common Fisheries Policy, fishermen knew Boris hadn’t delivered the wideranging deal he had promised.

If I was going to be honest in standing up for Scottish fishing, then I needed to accept that point. Two weeks ago, in the Scottish Parliament, I did just that.

Fast forward to now and this week my colleague, Scottish Conservative MP for Gordon and Buchan, Harriet Cross, who has hit the ground running, quite literally with an outstanding performance in the London Marathon recently, continues that push for Scottish fishing.