'There's no way!' Tory picks apart Nicola Sturgeon's shameless fisheries giveaway
A CONSERVATIVE MSP ripped apart the Scottish National Party’s post-Brexit policy on fisheries and claimed it would pull Britain straight back under the control of the Commons Fisheries Policy (CFP).
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The UK Government has faced criticism this week after David Davis announced Britain would effectively be under the control of the CFP until the end of 2020 – after the Brexit transition period.
Scottish fishermen have claimed they have been sold out by the British Government and some vocal Tory Brexiteers have expressed their fury at the decision.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was quick to criticise the Government, but Tory MSP Peter Chapman claims SNP policy would place the UK straight under the EU’s CFP controls.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “They can’t deliver that, there is no way the SNP can deliver that.
“If they go back into the EU they have to go back into the CFP.
“No ifs, no buts, no negotiations. The CFP is part of the EU.”
The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been against Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and would like the see the UK retain close ties with Brussels post-Brexit.
Ms Sturgeon took to Twitter to criticise the Governments fisheries announcement on Monday.
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If they go back into the EU they have to go back into the CFP
She wrote: “This is shaping up to be a massive sellout of the Scottish fishing industry by the Tories. The promises that were made to them during #EUref and since are already being broken - as many of us warned they would be.”
In September 2017 Sturgeon admitted Edinburgh would hand back control of fisheries to Brussels in exchange for full European Union membership.
Her stance has upset those in the rural northeast where the fishing industry is based, as they support UK’s withdrawal from both the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after Brexit.
Responding to a question in Parliament on Wednesday, the Prime Minister was quick to point out Sturgeon’s policy to an SNP MP.
She said: “We will be working with the fishing industry, both fishermen and fish processors, to ensure that we do see a bright future for the fishing industry.
"I want to see three things: we’ll take back control of our waters, we will ensure that we don’t see British fishermen unfairly denied access to other waters, and we want to rebuild our fishing industry.
"But that’s a Conservative party that is committed to coming out of the Common Fisheries Policy. His party wants to stay in the Common Fisheries Policy."
Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Tories, said she wouldn't support a deal that does not deliver full control of fish stocks and vessel access.
Reacting to the fisheries agreement, the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation chief executive Bertie Armstrong said: “This falls far short of an acceptable deal. We will leave the EU and leave the CFP, but hand back sovereignty over our seas a few seconds later. Our fishing communities’ fortunes will still be subject to the whim and largesse of the EU for another two years.
“Put simply, we do not trust them to look after us. So we issue this warning to the EU: be careful what you do or the consequences later will be severe. To our politicians, we say this: some have tried to secure a better deal but our governments have let us down.
“As a consequence, we expect a written, cast-iron guarantee that after the implementation period, sovereignty will mean sovereignty and we will not enter into any deal which gives any other nation or the EU continued rights of access or quota other than those negotiated as part of the annual Coastal States negotiations.”