Scottish Parliament: “deep concern” with Labour over alleged fishing giveaway

SNP amend Tory motion, to reinstate EU Single Market (and therefore the hated Common Fisheries Policy)

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025

Tories and LibDems force fishing to forefront of Scottish politics ahead of Starmer sell-out

On Wednesday (30 Apr 2025) fishing dominated the agenda in the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh, with a Conservative motion deploring Labour’s moves in the run-up to Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘Great Reset Summit’ on 19 May.

Fishing is a difficult subject for the SNP government in Scotland. This stems from its policy to rejoin the EU as an independent country, after it hopes to win a vote for independence – one which it failed to secure in the last referendum in 2014.

Joining the EU would automatically involve Scotland accepting all the EU’s rules and Treaty obligations which in turn would in effect mean it giving up its newly-gained independent status. One of the many rights it would have to lose would be any sovereignty and control over its waters. It would be required to be part of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy and decisions on who could fish in Scottish waters, and how much they could fish for, would be decided in Brussels.

The SNP claims to act in the interests of Scottish fishermen but it is quite patently impossible for them to reconcile this with their policy on joining the EU. Below is the debate in full, followed by some short notes.

In a combative debate there was general agreement that fishing must not be sold out as part of a wider renegotiation the Prime Minister is poised to have with the EU. In particular there was agreement that future fisheries negotiations should take place annually, not as part of a multi-year agreement as has been rumoured from Brussels.

The major difference came from the ruling SNP government who amended the motion to include membership of the Single Market, which would of course involve the reintroduction of the hated Common Fisheries Policy.

Other issues she mentioned – relevant to fishing communities around the country - are those of resourcing of the marine agencies, and in addition the question of ‘spatial squeezing’ caused by wind farms and conservation areas. These are both subjects we plan to return to.

There was also a dissenting voice from the Labour spokesman, Rhoda Grant, who somewhat bizarrely talked about defence and about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She had clearly assumed the Tory motion would have talked about the possible linkage of defence and fishing, but defence was never mentioned by Tim Eagle who holds the shadow fisheries brief for the Conservatives. Her overall argument was that the debate was based on speculation. Her own amendment (which was not taken) “notes that no agreements have been reached and therefore speculation is not helpful”.

[ Sources: Scottish Parliament ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Fri 02 May 2025

Click here to go to our news headlines

Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget actually to post your message after you have previewed it!

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

From £3 per month