The EU will demand fishing rights in British waters as it seeks to take advantage of Keir Starmer’s bid to renegotiate Britain’s Brexit deal

The European Union will demand continued fishing rights in British waters as the Labor government tries to renegotiate a fair trade deal, the Brexit negotiator has told MEPs.

“We must ensure that EU fishing fleets continue to have access to British waters,” Maroš Šefčovič told the European Parliament.

The bloc’s fishing quotas in British waters were cut by a quarter in the wake of Brexit, but fishermen on the continent were given access to certain coastal waters under ongoing agreements.

With the existing deal set to expire in 2026, British fishermen and government officials fear Labor could hand over rights in return for a better trade deal with the EU.

Brussels was said to be preparing a list of ‘offensive interests’ as early as July to use in talks with the new Labor government, with access to British fishing waters expected to be one of the key points of contention in the talks are.

Maros Sefcovic speaks at the opening of the 8th Austrian World Summit in Vienna in June

Under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, 25 percent of the total existing EU quota in British waters will be transferred back to the UK over a number of years, until 30 June 2026.

After that, negotiations would take place annually, leaving room for agreements over several years.

A specialized fisheries committee has been mandated to meet three times a year to administer the agreement.

The EU is expected to try to negotiate a multi-year deal with Britain to move beyond the current, less certain state of holding annual talks.

The Telegraph reports that government officials fear the EU will only renegotiate the Brexit trade deal if Labor bows to its fishing demands.

Before the election, senior Eurocrats predicted that fishing would take priority in any talks with the EU after Labor came to power.

One of them told The Times in June: ‘If a new government wants new trade negotiations, France will ensure that all European Commission trade negotiations are related to fisheries.

‘The problem for Britain is that the marine protection areas are the fishing grounds that the French and others want to catch.’

British diplomats were said to have been alarmed earlier this year when the EU, under pressure mainly from France, began pushing for the start of fisheries negotiations and setting up a dispute mechanism over Britain’s measures to protect the marine environment.

Mostly in 2022 recently In the available year, British ships landed 640,000 tonnes of sea fish worth £1.04 billion.

This meant a decrease in quantity of two percent, but an increase in value of 13 percent, mainly caused by rising fish prices.

Landings in Britain by foreign ships fell by four percent in 2022 on 2021 figures, while landings by British ships abroad fell by five percent.

Britain is still a net importer of fish, with a crude oil trade deficit of 316 thousand tonnes in 2022, but down from 322 tonnes a year earlier.

The EU announced late last year the extension of its fisheries agreement for 2024, which it said would guarantee “stability and security for EU fishermen and for the industry.”

Luis Planas Puchades, Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, said at the time that the agreement was reached “thanks to the goodwill shown by both parties.”

Under the post-Brexit trade deal between Britain and the EU, 25 percent of the total existing EU quotas in British waters will be transferred to Britain during a five-and-a-half-year transition period until 2026.

Then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on a boat during a visit to North Devon as he headed to the election campaign. Date of photo: Tuesday, June 18, 2024

During his campaign, Sir Keir sought to play down any potential setbacks from Brexit on fishing rights, saying he recognized its importance to British fishermen.

He said at the time: ‘I’m not going to get into negotiations that haven’t even started yet.

“But I know how important it is to defend our fishing rights and how important that is for our fishing communities.

“I think they feel like they’ve been let down because they were told they were going to get a better deal than they got, and we weren’t going to let them down on this and trade away their rights because that access and that fisheries are critical to those communities.

“And I think right now they feel like they’ve been very let down.”

While Labour’s manifesto said it would not rejoin the bloc’s single market and customs union, or allow freedom of movement again, it did pledge to “deepen” ties with Brussels.