Caroline Voaden: Hook, line and thinker

It’s a bit of a mixed bag.

That was my initial reaction when I saw what the government’s long-awaited UK-EU deal means for our fishing industry. Though the industry reaction was mostly negative, with fishers in Brixham feeling the PM had gone back on his word, the truth is that, as far as I can tell, this week’s announcement contains both good and bad news for our fishing industry.

Sticking with the latter, the new deal struck between the UK and EU will continue the current arrangements on fisheries, which grants EU countries’ trawlers access to fish in British waters, for another 12 years. This was a bitter blow for our fishers, especially when set against the absolute freedoms they were sold by the Leave campaign during the referendum.

Unfortunately, these promises were always grounded more in rhetoric than reality. While the Brexit deal struck by Boris Johnson did return some fish quota to the UK, its colossal failure, according to the fishers I speak to, was that it didn’t exclude EU boats from the UK’s six to twelve-mile (10 to 19 km) inshore waters.

With the deal coming up for review next year, there was some hope among the industry that this historic mistake could be addressed. Now, under Starmer’s new arrangement, foreign access in inshore waters will persist for at least another 12 years.

I understand our fishers' deep frustration with this outcome. It’s especially disappointing to read that fishing rights were a last-minute stumbling block preventing the rest of the deal with the EU from going ahead.

Again, it appears that using our fishing industry to appease the EU was the key to unlocking a wider deal. This week’s announcement reaffirms my long-held belief that, in the future, fishing should be taken away from these negotiations and discussed separately.

The industry is simply too complicated to be lumped in with discussions on trade, security, and defence. It’s not just about catching the fish; it’s about marine protected areas, offshore wind, and so many other things competing for our marine space that it would be beneficial for our fishers and those working in the sector if fishing could be removed from what is already a very crowded negotiating table.

We knew that the EU would look to play hardball in these negotiations. If the government had been more ambitious from the outset in pushing for a new, bespoke customs union, we would have had the leverage to secure much broader benefits for the UK as a whole, including for our fishing sector.

Having said that, I was very pleased to see an agreement reached on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). This new agreement will align the UK and the EU on food and animal welfare standards, resulting in a massive cutback of red tape for exporters.

This is something every business that exports to the EU has been crying out for even before the ink was dry on the Conservatives' botched Brexit deal. The labyrinth of red tape introduced after 2020 has been strangling, with one seafood company in South Devon having to get 17 signatures for every single consignment they send to Europe.

The cost of this has been astronomical. The price of health certificates and customs charges has pushed businesses to the brink, including in the fishing sector – just look at Plymouth Trawler Agents, established in 1995, which shut its doors for good last year.

In South Devon, fishing is not just an industry but a way of life for many of my constituents, and I understand why some may feel that the government should have fought harder for our fishers in these negotiations. Labour now needs to ensure this industry is fully supported and that the red tape that has crippled trade in the last five years is consigned firmly to the past.