Chairman of the Shetland Fishermen's Association James Anderson has expressed his disappointment over Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's latest deal with the European Union, claiming that it leaves the British fishing industry with "nothing left to fight with".Announcing the new deal at a summit in London today, Starmer confirmed the agreement with the European Union will be "good for jobs, good for bills and good for our borders".FULL STORY HERE.
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00:00Fishing was a huge casualty of today's Brexit reset.
00:04And we can now speak with the chairman of the Shetland Fishermen Association, James Anderson.
00:09James, welcome to the show.
00:10Many people saying fishing once again has been thrown under the bus.
00:14What's your take?
00:17Yeah, I pretty well would say that's what happened.
00:22Not totally unexpected for me, but I didn't think they would go as far as 12 here.
00:28But that seems to be what they've done.
00:32James, many British fishermen and women were hoping and praying that the renegotiation in 2026 would allow those quotas to be stepped back to take back more control of our waters for people such as yourself.
00:45The opposite has happened.
00:47Do you think finally, well, we can see this has been a surrender to Brussels?
00:53Yeah, I think it was a bit of a capitulation.
00:57If we negotiate annually, we might not have got much, but every year there's a chance you can keep pushing your position.
01:08But with a 12-year lock-in, we haven't got anything to fight with now.
01:11That's gone.
01:12James Anderson, the Prime Minister, was eschewing the virtues of an extra £360 million for British fishing and locking in deals which will allow the exportation of shellfish.
01:34Does that float your boat, so to speak, or is it just not enough?
01:40I don't think that's anything as good as what the EU have managed to negotiate.
01:45They've got access worth, well, hundreds of millions annually for a 12-year guaranteed.
01:53So to say we'll get £312 million from the UK taxpayer to do, I don't know what with, but I mean, split that over 12 years, not a lot of money.
02:02And as far as that access to the markets goes, well, I think that maybe works both ways.
02:08The EU saves plenty of food into the UK, so they gain from that too.
02:16And yeah, so no, that doesn't in any way make this deal acceptable.
02:22And James, we've got a quick 30 seconds.
02:26How would you sum up the mindset, the mood amongst fishermen you've been talking to today?
02:33I don't know.
02:34I haven't actually spoken.
02:36I've been travelling today, but I would imagine it's just been a disappointment.
02:40Four years was mentioned, and then we had this morning 12, and yeah, disappointed it's been sold out again.
02:47OK, thank you very much for joining us on this huge day in politics.
02:53The chairman of the Shetland Fishermen Association, James Anderson.
02:56Thank you very much for joining us on the show today.