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Report
UK fishermen in Brexit warning to Starmer: ‘Don’t cut our throats’
inews
Follow
18/06/2024
Category
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News
Transcript
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00:00
Brexit was a disaster.
00:02
The biggest mistake was we did not take control in the first place,
00:06
but then we had the hand to negotiate.
00:08
Now it looks like Brussels may hold us to account,
00:12
and the only way we can get that better relationship is by
00:16
possibly giving up some more access to our seas.
00:19
There's a limited amount of fish out there.
00:21
It would be a sad case that we've come this far
00:25
if our fishermen's birthrights were gifted away
00:30
to a wider group of people,
00:32
where the economic benefit will be lost,
00:35
because that fish will be caught.
00:36
It won't be landed here.
00:37
It won't be processed here or go directly into Europe,
00:40
and that's a huge risk.
00:42
I was involved in politics in 2010.
00:45
I ran as a candidate for Westminster Parliament.
00:48
I'm all for the EU.
00:49
I'm not against the EU.
00:51
Back in the 1980s, we joined a common market.
00:55
The common market was a place to trade.
00:58
We went into a political agreement,
01:02
where power, sovereign power,
01:04
was gifted to an unelected bunch of bureaucrats.
01:09
We need to know what Brexit is.
01:10
Everyone had a different view of what Brexit was to them,
01:13
but at the end of the day,
01:14
the agreement only began after we voted Brexit.
01:17
I think the slice is big enough as it is.
01:20
You know, I mean, yes, we have some of the most productive
01:24
and well-managed fisheries in the Northern Hemisphere.
01:26
What we need to do in the UK
01:28
is to actually eat more of what's on our own doorstep.
01:31
Yes, we export a huge amount of what we catch,
01:34
but there's also a massive amount we import.
01:36
I would ask Labour to have an instant dialogue
01:39
with our own industries first
01:40
before they go to any meetings with the EU.
01:43
Labour need to understand the state of the industry,
01:46
both in fisheries and agriculture.
01:48
They need to construct dialogue straight away
01:51
with our industry leaders and representatives,
01:52
because it's only they who actually know what's going on.
01:56
It's not the politicians.
01:57
I think Brexit is still there.
01:58
You know, it's still in the back of people's minds.
02:00
It was a big event.
02:02
The referendum was a big event.
02:03
Brexit was a disaster,
02:06
but there's a lot that's happened since then.
02:07
It's not entirely down to Brexit.
02:09
My vote has definitely changed.
02:11
In the UK voters, of 100% of the quota,
02:14
we catch 28%.
02:15
In my 40-odd years at sea,
02:17
the foreign fleet has increased and increased and increased
02:21
to the point of view where I would say
02:24
there are almost as much EU vessels fishing.
02:26
So to ask for more access,
02:28
you're almost cutting the throat of the industry.
02:31
The industry's struggling to do this.
02:33
There's nothing to give now.
02:34
The industry's so tight in the hardship
02:37
we're facing with a lack of quota and opportunity,
02:39
and we have such a small fleet,
02:40
a fraction of the fleet we used to have.
02:42
Before all the EU carry-on here,
02:43
there used to be 400-odd vessels working repeatedly there,
02:46
but yet there's still the same amount of boats on the ground.
02:49
The difference is there are foreign EU vessels
02:52
instead of UK vessels.
02:53
So to ask to cut more,
02:55
absolutely not.
02:56
We're in disaster for the industry.
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