Chairman of the Shetland Fishermen's Association James Anderson has expressed his disappointment over Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's latest deal with the European Union, claiming that it leaves the British fishing industry with "nothing left to fight with".
Announcing the new deal at a summit in London today, Starmer confirmed the agreement with the European Union will be "good for jobs, good for bills and good for our borders".
However, one of the biggest casualties of the deal lands with the fishing industry after securing a 12-year agreement for their fishermen, allowing them to maintain unfettered access to the UK’s coastal waters.
Hitting out at the deal, Chairman of the Shetland Fishermen's Association James Anderson told GB News that although the deal was "not totally unexpected" by the British fishing industry, they fear they have been "sold out again" by the Labour Government.
James Anderson expressed his disappointment at Keir Starmer's new fisheries deal with the EU
PA / GB News
Anderson said of the deal: "I would say that's what happened, we've been thrown under the bus.
"It's not totally unexpected for me, but I didn't think they would go as far as 12 years. But that seems to be what they've done."
When asked by host Martin Daubney if he believes the deal is a "surrender to Brussels", Anderson agreed, stating: "It was a bit of a capitulation. If we negotiated - and we might not have got much - but every year there's a chance you can keep pushing your position.
"But with a 12-year lock in, we haven't got anything to fight with, now that's that's gone. So we'll just have to accept this. And it's disappointing, but like I said, I wasn't totally surprised that it happened."
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Sir Keir Starmer unveiled his new deal at Lancaster HouseGETTYAs Martin highlighted Starmer's claims that the deal would bring in £360million worth of investment into Britain’s fishing industry, Anderson told GB News that the EU "still gains" more from the deal than the UK.
Anderson explained: "The only thing that's good is what the EU have managed to negotiate. They've got access with hundreds of millions annually for 12 years guaranteed.
"So to say we'll get £360m from the UK taxpayer to do I don't know what with, split that over 12 years, it's not a lot of money."
In further criticism of the deal, Anderson added: "As far as the access to the markets goes, that maybe works both ways. The EU sends plenty of food into the UK, so they gain from that too.
Anderson told GB News that the UK's fishermen will be 'disappointed' with the deal
GB News
"So that no, it doesn't in any way make this deal acceptable."
Predicting how the fishermen of Britain will be reacting to the deal, Anderson concluded that they would be "disappointed" with the Labour Government for "selling out" the industry once again.
He said: "I would imagine that there would be just disappointment. Four years for a deal was mentioned, and then we had this morning 12 years.
"And yeah, disappointing that it's been sold out again."
