The UK Government’s failure to reconsider their unfair allocation for Scottish fisheries from their Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund is completely unacceptable.
In a meeting with the CEO of the Scottish Seafood Association, Jimmy Buchan MBE, I was shocked to hear that Labour’s Scotland Office Minister, Kirsty McNeil had told him that there would be “no reconsideration of change to the Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund”.
Last year after negotiating access to UK fishing waters for 12 years in their UK-EU reset, the Labour Government announced they would be allocating £360million in their Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund to the fishing sector around the UK. They subsequently announced that Scottish fisheries would only be receiving 7.78% of this fund, despite Scotland’s outsize contribution to the UK sector, standing at 60% of the total UK landings by tonnage and value.
I’ve already highlighted the unfairness of this “pocket change” for Scottish fisheries in a recent parliamentary debate, and how previous funds from the EU had stood at a 46% share for Scotland. Importantly, these previous funds were not subject to Barnetisation at this time. This is in direct contrast to Labour’s decision to apply the Barnett formula in this case, resulting in this smaller proportion for Scotland.
The Labour Government may think they are playing an entertaining political game here in their decision to Barnetise the allocation for Scotland from their growth fund, but beyond Westminster this kind of petty decision making will have devastating implications for the Scottish fisheries sector which is already struggling in these challenging economic times.
The blatant unfairness is impossible for the UK Government to justify no matter how much they dig their heels in, and they seem to be getting themselves tied up in knots on their justification for this decision. They first unfairly and incorrectly blamed the Scottish Government who they said had asked for it to be devolved which Holyrood Ministers have strongly refuted, and then we discovered that the decision to apply the Barnet formula to this allocation was actually a Treasury policy decision. Of course, the Scottish Government is best placed to manage this fund, but why has Labour changed the way these funds are delivered if not to score political points?
I have already written to the DEFRA Minister, Dame Angela Eagle to get to the bottom of this decision and to remind her that it is not too late to change course and right this wrong. However, I am greatly disappointed that the Scotland Office Minister, Kirsty McNeil is refusing to reconsider. What is the point of the Scotland Office if they can’t negotiate a good deal for Scotland and are content to create conditions for our fishing sector to fail while the rest of the UK benefits from this Fund?
Jimmy Buchan MBE and CEO of the Scottish Seafood Association added:
“Scotland’s coastal communities cannot be punished for a UK-EU deal they never agreed to.
“The Prime Minister promised £360million for the seafood sector with no mention of devolution, yet Scotland is now offered just 8%. That is unacceptable.
“We will not be drawn into political ping-pong. All we want is the same support the rest of the UK gets so we can upskill and secure the future of our coastal economy. After 6 years of a bad deal that still hasn’t delivered, all parties must now sit down together and fix this for the generations who depend on the sea and the jobs it sustains.”
