Listen to my reaction to the UK/EU deal

It’s a mixed bag. That was my reaction when I saw the Government’s long-awaited UK-EU deal, which contains both good and bad news for our fishing industry.

I completely understand why fishers feel let down by Labour after the Government agreed to extend current arrangements on fisheries for another 12 years. One of the worst measures in Boris’s Brexit deal was the decision not to exclude EU boats from the UK’s six-to-twelve-mile inshore waters.

Amending this historic mistake has come up repeatedly in my conversations with fishers, and it’s deeply disappointing that under this new deal foreign access in inshore waters will continue for another 12 years at least.

It’s also disappointing to read that fishing rights were a list-minute stumbling block holding up the rest of the deal with the EU.

Our fishing industry is too complicated to be used as a pawn to extract a better deal from the EU. It’s why I believe a fishing deal should have been negotiated separately to discussions around defence, security, and trade.

I am pleased to see a new SPS Agreement between the UK and the EU in the works.

This will help to massively cut red tape, which has strangled every business trying to trade with Europe.

The cost of health certificates and customs charges have had a significant impact on businesses, including those in the fishing industry, and I hope this new agreement will pave the way for smoother trade with our biggest trading partner in the future.