Brexit means the Netherlands has 'lost an ally' says expert

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Former MEP June Mummery said Mr Johnson’s Government had “lost interest” in the country’s fishing industry despite promises that his “oven-ready” Brexit deal would revive it. The Prime Minister even insisted that it will allow the UK to take “back control of our waters”.

But people within the industry claim that hasn’t been the case, and Mr Johnson wasted the perfect opportunity to let the country’s “most renewable sustainable resource” thrive.

Ms Mummery, a former Brexit Party MEP, tweeted: “(The) Government might have lost interest but I will keep reminding them they sold our coastal communities out.

“They handed over the UK’s most renewable sustainable resource.

“It amazes me how some people are happy to see our territorial waters and a public asset given away, weird.

“We must be mindful of all the jobs that fishing can create – one job at sea, eight on land.

“Coastal communities have been sold out.”

Her outburst came after former UKIP deputy leader Mike Hookem slammed Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal.

He was particularly scathing about the government’s pledge to ban super trawlers from UK territorial waters.

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But Mr Hookem claimed that the Government “was simultaneously issuing more than 2,000 licences to EU vessels some classed as super trawler”.

In a column for Express.co.uk, he added: “The term super trawler generally refers to large trawlers over 100 metres in length.

“They catch hundreds of tons of fish every day using nets up to a mile long and can process their catch on board which leads to them also being called ‘factory ships’.”

These huge commercial vessels are much bigger than most British ships – 80 percent of which are 10 metres or less.

He said this, combined with many EU nations having powerful fishing lobbies, means that British fishermen will struggle to compete with their European counterparts despite the government’s promises.

He concluded: “The waters surrounding the United Kingdom are a natural resource belonging to the people of Great Britain under international law.

“We are the guardians and the recipients of its bountiful supply of fish, food for the nation’s table.

“It must be defended and held for the financial benefit of the United Kingdom its people, its fishermen and the generations of fishermen to come.”

Mr Mummery endorsed the article in a passionate defence of the UK’s fishing industry.

She later tweeted: “Hartlepool still has a fishing industry that can rebuild creating 100s of jobs now and for future generations.

“Coastal communities have been sacrificed. Let’s hope Hartlepool finds a decent honest hardworking MP that can teach the other 186 coastal MPs how the job is done.”

She tweeted after Labour MP Mike Hill quit the party – setting up a hotly contested by-election in the seat.

The pair spoke shortly after the UK has secured a historic agreement with Norway and the European Union for fishing in the North Sea.

The deal struck is worth £184million to the UK economy.

Reacting to the news, fisheries minister Victoria Prentis said: “Today we successfully concluded the first trilateral fisheries negotiations between the UK, EU and Norway.

“As an independent coastal state we are committed to managing our fisheries sustainably, to the benefit of the fishing industry across the UK and our marine environment, now and in the years to come.”

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