Future of fishing determined not by new law but by EU trade negotiations – Luke Pollard

Luke Pollard MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Fisheries, responding to the government’s Fisheries Bill, said:

"The new Fisheries Bill is not going to provide what the government is promising. Simply sexing up what Theresa May proposed on fisheries isn’t going to reassure fishing communities who feel very concerned that the promises they’ve been given won’t be delivered upon. 

“Instead of banking everything on beefed-up language in the Fisheries Bill, this government should use the powers it already has to redistribute fishing quota from foreign-owned multinationals to small boats which are the backbone of the British fishing fleet, and also require the fish caught under a UK quota to be landed in a UK ports, creating jobs around our coastline.”

“What this Bill does confirm is that the future of fishing will be determined not by this new law but by the EU trade negotiations where fishing access could be sold out for financial services, automotive or aerospace.”