Vast and untamed, our seas are etched onto our national identity, character and heritage. Over millennia, our coastal waters have protected us from invasion, provided food for us and promised new horizons. Most of us still have connections to our coastline, from the millions of people who live and work by the sea, to those with fond childhood memories of building sandcastles.
Post-Brexit, the United Kingdom has reasserted control over its waters, but that sovereignty is now under a new type of threat: a Labour Government willing to trade away our maritime birthright for some short-term favour with Brussels. Every time this Labour Government negotiates, from Chagos to the trade unions, Britain loses.
The Conservatives negotiating the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement marked the beginning of our fishing freedoms. We couldn’t get everything we wanted at that stage but we planned to strengthen these protections in the next set of negotiations. We had a guarantee that British boats would be put first in British waters and that our coastal communities would finally get a fair share. We gained control of 120,000 extra tonnes of catch, quotas worth £1 billion, and the power to say who fished in our seas, and when. Those gains are now at risk.
The right to fish our own waters is not a footnote in trade negotiations. It is a pillar of our food security, and a livelihood for many who work on boats, in fish processing or in hospitality. Yet Labour, in its sly march back to Brussels, is preparing to sell them out instead of negotiating an even better deal. This is a betrayal of our coastal communities and a reckless gamble with our sovereignty and food security.
Reports suggest Keir Starmer is entertaining deals that would give EU fleets, particularly French boats, renewed access to British waters. The very waters the public fought to take back control of just four years ago.
At the heart of this fight lies the 0-12 nautical mile zone, the vital strip of water our inshore fleets have worked for generations. Existing EU proposals seek access to this zone, and Labour refuses to rule them out. Labour’s willingness to let foreign boats trawl this narrow band guts both our sovereignty and our sustainability goals. That zone must be protected, and it must be for British vessels only.
The last 10 months of this Labour Government shows that when tough calls are needed, Labour folds. And when our national interest is on the table, Labour reaches for a Brussels placard faster than it will ever back a British fishing or farming family.
This Labour Government seem set on tying our country into a multi-year deal that leaves us with all the obligations and none of the leverage or power – benefitting the French. While other independent coastal states such as Iceland, Norway, and even the Faroe Islands, negotiate annually based on need and with the hope of getting better deals in the future, Labour would lock us in with no say or power to change.
The current quota allocation system remains skewed and fails to reward those who fish sustainably or contribute most to their local economies. A rebalancing is long overdue and would reflect the principles of post-Brexit independence.
Hidden inside these deals are the traps: retaliatory tariffs, trade punishments, clauses that let Brussels squeeze us any time we stand up for ourselves. We say no.
The Conservative Party will not sit back while Labour unravels what we fought to restore. A future Conservative government will reverse any deal that breaks our five Brexit tests or damages the United Kingdom’s interests. We will not let it reduce our fishing communities to pawns in foreign policy. We will stand with those who have always stood with Britain in rough seas or calm. We Conservatives will fight to keep control of our waters. Our national identity, history and economy demands this.