SCOTTISH Tory MPs have not been reassured by Theresa May’s insistence that the fishing industry’s concerns will be at the “forefront of our thinking” in the Brexit talks.
The Prime Minister told MPs while she did not want to extend the 21-month transition period, it might be worth doing so to remove the impasse on the Irish backstop; the last remaining obstacle to a deal.
The transition period is due to end in December 2020 but only extending it a few months would mean the UK’s fishing industry would continue to shadow the EU’s Commons Fisheries Policy until December 2021 because quotas are set in December for the following year.
Last week, David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, expressed his concern to Downing St and argued for an exemption for the fishing industry should the transition period be extended.
Conservative MPs have made clear if such an exemption were not forthcoming, they would vote down the Brexit deal.
Asked by Douglas Ross, the Conservative MP for Moray, to confirm Britain would no longer be tied to the CFP beyond December 2020, Mrs May said the concerns of fishermen were “right at the forefront of our thinking”.
But one Scottish Tory MP said: “I’m not reassured in the slightest by the PM’s words…I don’t know where they are going on this.”
Why are you making commenting on HeraldScotland only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel