Fishing industry is left reeling by new UK-EU trade deal

CORNISH fishing leaders have savaged the UK-EU trade deal announced last week saying "it’s now a wonder what else can Keir Starmer do to make more of a mess of our industry.

- by ANDY GREENWOOD

The wide-ranging deal will allow farmers to gain swifter, easier access to trade on the Continent as a result of an agreement on animal and plant product standards. However, the Government has also received swift condemnation for agreeing to grant European fishing trawlers a further 12 years of access to British waters.

Speaking to the House of Commons' Environment Committee last Tuesday, Environment Secretary Steve Reed described the deal as a "huge boost for the UK agri-food and food and drink sectors, but he was quickly forced to defend the agreement as MPs quizzed him about the concerns and anger from fishing sector leaders, who have described it as a "horror show" and a "betrayal".

Mr Reed said: "I think this is a reasonably good deal for the UK fishing sector. Compared to what some of the speculation was, and indeed some of the pressures on our negotiating team, the EU was interested in more quota, more access to (UK) territorial waters."