Brexit: Nigel Farage labels EU fishing proposals ‘insulting’

Nigel Farage has ridiculed Brussels’ last-ditch fishing proposal to continue the status quo fishing agreement in the event of a no deal. The EU sparked a fresh fishing row with the UK after Brussels proposed a series of contingency measures in the event there is no post-Brexit trade deal from January 1. For fisheries, the EU is proposing a year-long legal framework for “continued reciprocal access by EU and UK vessels to each other’s waters” in 2021 while talks continue.

Mr Farage laughed off the offer as “the biggest insult yet from the European Commission”.

He told Sky News: “The contingency planning from the European Commission on fishing is that things carry on the same next year as they have this year.

“That would mean the French getting 90 percent of the haddock quota in the South West.

“So I think that’s actually a huge insult yet again.”

Mr Farage urged Boris Johnson to walk away from the talks, claiming the UK could be up to £9billion better off after trade tariffs.

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He said the UK should have left the EU in 2016, following the Brexit referendum.

Others Brexiteers reacted furiously to the fishing offer, with Tory MP David Jones – a senior member of the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers – adding: “They seem to want access to our fish without giving anything in return.

He added: “That is not a deal, that is appropriation.”

Mr Farage’s remarks comes as UK sent a defiant warning shot to the EU last night by announcing that armed Royal Navy boats are being prepared to patrol the UK’s fishing waters.

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Four of the 80-metre vessels are on standby to guard British waters from EU fishermen in case no deal is agreed on fishing rights after the Brexit transition period ends.

The Royal Navy patrol ships will be ready from January 1 with the power to halt, inspect and impound EU fishing boats that stray into the UK’s exclusive economic zone.

Among the no deal contingency deals, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlined four areas – air connectivity, aviation safety, basic road connectivity, and fisheries – where short-term mini-agreements could be made if talks collapse.

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The EU have said that these measures would ensures planes keep flying, and lorries keep moving but also allow EU fishing boats to keep fishing in UK waters.

On Friday, Boris Johnson chaired a ‘stock-take’ on the UK’s preparedness for a no-deal scenario.

The leaders of both parties have warned they are unlikely to reach a post-Brexit trade deal by Sunday.

The Sunday deadline was set by Mr Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after the pair met in Brussels on Wednesday. 

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