In British politics, the fishing industry carries an emotional resonance matched by few others; mining and shipbuilding are the only obvious contenders. Perhaps this is because Britain is an island. Perhaps it is because deep sea fishing was always prodigiously dangerous and heroic. Perhaps it is because fishing communities are particularly tightly knit. Or perhaps it is because, unlike mining and merchant shipbuilding, UK fishing continues to survive. Fishing is a relatively small industry, but it still sustains about 24,000 jobs, a third of them in fishing itself, double that in processing, and half of the total in Scotland, particularly in the north-east.
Whatever the reason, the fact of that resonance is beyond dispute, as the government has again discovered this week. Under pressure from north-east Scottish and south-west English fishing constituencies that voted Conservative, the UK has pressed to be unhooked from the EU’s common fisheries policy as soon as Brexit officially occurs in March 2019. The EU, in contrast, argued that the CFP should continue through the transition period. At the start of March, the chancellor, Philip Hammond, said the government was open to continued inclusion. A week later, the environment secretary, Michael Gove, and the Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson – a leaver and a remainer – teamed up to press the case for leaving the CFP during the transition. This week in Brussels, that aspiration was dashed when the transition terms kept Britain firmly within the CFP until December 2020.
That outcome was predictable, as were the political consequences. Although Theresa May made climbdowns on other important issues – including free movement, migrant rights, Northern Ireland and the duration of the transition – only fishing has roused the Brexiters to protest. Much of that is explained by Scottish Tory embarrassment. The Tories have failed to do what their fishing industry voters wanted. The SNP, which backs remaining in the EU and the CFP, has been quick to claim that Scotland is being betrayed. The truth is that both parties have been opportunist – the Tories by pretending that CFP withdrawal was easily attainable, the nationalists by pretending they would give fishing communities what they want.
Mr Gove tried to make the best of a political bad job in the Commons on Tuesday. Wait one more year and all would be well, he argued. But that’s not true. The political disappointments will continue after Brexit because the UK fishing industry is not going to get the total control over fishing in UK waters and access to UK markets that it has pressed for. Nor should it. Inside the EU or out, fishing requires internationally agreed management of fleets, vessels, catches and sustainability. The CFP has been tough for the UK fishing industry, for a variety of reasons, especially in eastern England, where it has been destroyed. But something strikingly similar to the CFP is likely to be the only practical alternative, whether fishing policy is controlled in Brussels, London or Edinburgh.
