Fishermen's verdict on EU deal – we're getting screwed, French laughing their heads off

The European Union “smelled our weakness” in trade talks which last week culminated in Britain granting EU fishing vessels continued access to British waters for 12 more years, according to veteran Brexiteer and former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

He said: “It’s a disaster for the British fishing fleet. The French are laughing their heads off.”

Jerry Percy of the New Under Ten Fishermen’s Association, which advocates on behalf of operators of smaller vessels, said: “We are, to be blunt, always used to getting screwed”.

He said there was “no doubt, really, that this latest negotiation was going to equally screw us”.

The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations claims the Government “lost its nerve” and “capitulated” in the negotiations by “caving in” to pressure so it nail down a deal.

By agreeing to allow reciprocal access to waters until 2038, the industry body claims, Britain “lost the most straightforward and direct route to kickstarting sustainable growth in the UK’s fishing sector”.

Sir Iain said: “I think it’s a terrible, terrible deal and it’s done out of weakness.”

He claims EU negotiators “smelled our weakness” and thought: “We’ll get a pound of flesh off these guys.”

Sir Iain, one of the so-called “Maastricht rebels” who opposed further European integration when Sir John Major was prime minister, pointed to Sir Keir Starmer’s record as Shadow Brexit Secretary under Jeremy Corbyn.

He said: “This is the man who wanted a second referendum. This is the man who did not want to accept the referendum and wanted to rejoin the European Union.”

Former Conservative security minister Sir John Hayes claimed the “EU trade deal is less of a deal and more of a betrayal”.

He said: “Our seafarers have been sacrificed in an act so brazen it borders on parody. Labour has handed over access to Britain’s rich coastal waters – a long-standing EU preoccupation – until 2038.

“This is not diplomacy but piracy, of which the perpetrators should feel ashamed.”

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice said: “When Reform win the next general election we plan to ditch this dreadful surrender.”

Mr Percy of NUTFA said that while there had been a lot of “disappointment” and “anger” there was also “resigned acceptance”.

A Labour spokesperson said: “This is hypocrisy, pure and simple. We will take no lessons from Conservatives who heralded their deal and now criticize ours. Our deal maintains the same Brexit freedoms that the Tories celebrated in 2021, with no change to the current access to fish for Britain’s coastal communities.”

Sir Iain is also deeply pessimistic about the deal signed by the UK to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Under the agreement, the UK will lease the Diego Garcia military base for 99 years – but the former Army officer fears China will “muscle in” and the deal “won’t last long”.

Stressing the strategic importance of the base, he said: “Chagos acts as a fantastic base to take on those terrible terrorist groups such as the Houthis who have been attacking shipping in the Red Sea. And it looks towards Iran which is a major threat to us.”

He expects China will seek to increase its influence in the region, saying: “You will find China will start to make life very difficult for us.”

A Government spokesperson said: “The Government has secured a deal that provides stability for the fishing industry, protecting the rights of British fishers with no increase to the quota that EU fishers are allowed to catch in British waters. It also allows UK vessels’ continued access to EU waters - worth £80million per year to fishing communities, and we are also investing £360million over the next 12 years into the fishing industry.”

“Our new agreement with the EU will help seafood exporters and allow them to sell shellfish from certain domestic waters for the first time since the UK left the EU.”