A question in the House of Commons about the fishing secotr post-Brexit turned into a farce.
Legal battle
It comes as The European Union won a landmark case against Britain at the world’s oldest arbitration body over post-Brexit rights to fish sandeels, a tiny North Sea species.
The case at the Permanent Court for Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague was seen as a bellwether for other potential litigation between London and Brussels in a hot-bed industry.
It also marked the first courtroom trade battle between the 27-member bloc and Britain since it left the EU in 2020.
Importance
It comes as negotiations with the UK over future fishing quotas should not hold up a security deal, the European Union’s foreign policy chief has suggested.
Kaja Kallas told BBC Newsnight “a few elements” of a deal were still to be agreed but “I think we are over the fish”.
The UK government saw control of its fisheries policy as one of the major prizes of Brexit, promising to make the UK an ‘independent coastal state’ able control the level of access of foreign boats to its waters.
There has been a sustained negative impact on UK fish exports to the EU, which fell 29% by volume and 10% by value between 2019 and 2023. This has not been offset by exports to the rest of the world, which have fallen 16% by volume and 21% by value, and remain worth less than half the value of the EU export market.
UK seafoods
So it was left to Ben Coleman MP to question the UK fishing industry,
Ben Coleman: Exports of UK seafoods to the EU has fallen by 80% since brexit… what would he put this down to?
Mark Francois(Tory MP): “People have made market choices.”
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