Fishing industry left all at sea by Brexit – Yorkshire Post Letters

IT was good to read in The Yorkshire Post that fishing leaders have been given the opportunity to put the problems they are facing since the UK left the EU to MPs, but it is the Government that needs to listen.

Unfortunately our Vote Leave Government will not admit that any of the problems faced by fishing and numerous other sectors because of Brexit are anything but “teething troubles”.

Recently George Eustice, the Defra Minister, wrote to the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, complaining that the EU had changed their rules governing the import of shellfish at the last minute and sprung a ban on British shellfish exporters.

In her reply, Ms Kyriakides embarrassingly pointed out that they could not have changed the rules because Mr Eustice had written to MPs on December 10, 2020, confirming that British shellfish exports would not be accepted in the EU.

In other words, Mr Eustice knew all along.

The Government must start to acknowledge the problems exporters to the EU are facing, not dismiss them as “teething troubles” and start to look for genuine solutions.

Unfortunately, at the moment, the Government is showing no signs of doing so.

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