British fisherman Paul Lines has launched a scathing attack on the new EU-UK fishing deal, accusing the Labour Government of telling "bare faced lies" to the fishing industry.
In comments to GB News, Lines expressed outrage at the recently announced 12-year extension of fishing arrangements that will allow European vessels continued access to British waters until 2038.
The deal, signed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with EU leaders, has been celebrated by European fishing representatives but has provoked fury among British fishermen who feel betrayed by what they see as a surrender of Brexit promises to regain control of UK waters.
The new fishing agreement effectively amounts to a rollover of existing terms that were set during Brexit negotiations in 2020.
Paul Lines has launched a scathing attack on the new EU-UK fishing deal
GB NEWS
British Fisherman Paul Lines told GB News: "They live in a dream world. They don't live in the real world. They live in this world where they make up and they pat each other on the head and they feel good.
"How do you think young men and companies who are invested in this deal that they've done, the so-called Brexit deal, where after 2025 and 26, we negotiate them going us having our seas back and controlling our destinies from Great Britain, the independent coastal state that we're meant to be.
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"How do you think they feel that they've invested this money in new gear, new boats, new processing facilities only to be told, hang on the Dutch and French are going to be hoovering up that fish for another 12 years.
"I mean, I'll let you still be alive, let alone reap the benefits of it. We're an independent coastal state with no teeth. We've got no guts left in us.
"And we've got fools in Parliament who talk in these soundbites and they lay bare-faced here and think you're going to be stupid enough to believe anything they say. Well, quite honestly, that's a travesty. What they've done, they don't care. They don't know what they're doing.
"My opinion is they got to make sure and ruin fishing so badly and tie it up and stitch it up so that any government that tries and follow this mess of a government we've got can't do it, that'll fail for them as well.
"I'm sick and tired and, like every fisherman in Great Britain, I'm not buying that, oh, you can sell your shellfish.
"Well, that's a very small part of fishing, you know. Oh, I'm actually lost for words to what the hell is going on in that Parliament."
The deal was finalised as part of a broader reset in UK-EU relations, with Keir Starmer meeting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa at Lancaster House in London earlier this week.
The deal was finalised as part of a broader reset in UK-EU relations
PA
The broader UK-EU reset deal extends beyond fishing to cover multiple areas of cooperation. It includes a new sanitary and phytosanitary agreement to reduce red tape on food and drink trade, with some routine checks on plant and animal products being removed completely.
The agreement also links UK and EU emissions-trading schemes, protecting British firms from Brussels' carbon tax next year, and establishes a security and defence partnership allowing UK arms firms to bid for work under the EU's proposed €178bn security fund.
Additional elements include cooperation on a "youth experience scheme" with a commitment to work towards UK association with the Erasmus+ student exchange programme, while British steel exports will be protected from new EU rules.
