Seamus Logan MP has slammed the UK Government for its delay in setting out detail on the £360million Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund announced in May this year. This fund was announced shortly after the new UK-EU deal was outlined by the UK Government.
In May, the UK Government had announced details on their upcoming UK-EU reset with an agreement on a 12-year deal extending existing access for EU boats in exchange for reduced checks on food exports. This deal was roundly condemned by the Scottish fishing industry at the time as well as the Scottish Government who had been side-lined in the process of the agreement “without any recourse, involvement or approval” and “no documentation or draft proposals in advance” despite requests from the Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs, Angus Robertson MSP.
At the time, Mr Logan, SNP spokesperson on DEFRA, had blasted the UK Government for treating Scottish fishing communities as “expendable” in these EU negotiations. Mr Logan went on to write to the then Minister for European Union Relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, calling for the Ministers to come to Peterhead and meet with Scottish fishermen, as well as asking that the impact assessment on Scottish fishing communities be published with detail on how much money would be coming to Scotland to protect the industry in the aftermath of this new deal.
Just this month, Mr Logan received a reply from the Ministerial Contact Unit, five months after his first letter with no new detail on his calls, and an apology for the delay put down to the cabinet reshuffle.
Commenting on this situation, Seamus Logan said:
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“I find it extraordinary that it’s taken five months to respond to my letter to Mr Thomas-Symonds. No amount of cabinet reshuffling is an excuse; as far as I am concerned the delay in replying only compounds the feeling that the UK Government does see our Scottish fishing communities as expendable. This is despite our industry’s heavyweight contribution of nearly 70% of all UK tonnage at a value of £683m, with Aberdeenshire having the highest fishing GVA at £176m followed by the Shetland Islands at £83m.
“It’s completely unacceptable to leave the fishing sector in Scotland in limbo for this length of time and I would have expected publication of a timeline on allocation of this £360m Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund by now, given the challenges faced by this sector, compounded by the damage to its workforce as a result of Brexit.
“At Prime Minister’s Questions earlier this year, Keir Starmer gave me his personal assurance of his support for fishing in the North-east. Labour then went on to negotiate this new deal with the EU without outlining how they would protect the fishing sector as a result. After all, announcing a fund is very much not the same as delivering the investment in hard cash that these communities so desperately need. It’s not good enough and I will be writing again to ensure that my initial asks for a meeting with Scottish fishing communities, an impact assessment on the new EU deal and detail on the allocation of funds will be forthcoming without delay.”
