Were Britain’s fishermen betrayed by Brexit, or were they sold a promise that was never realistic to begin with?
That question sat at the heart of readers’ reactions to our report on Cornish fishermen who say they were “sold down the river” after backing Brexit in the hope it would transform their industry.
The article forms part of The Independent’s Europe: The Way Back campaign, which is exploring how Britain can rebuild its relationship with Europe a decade after the referendum. As part of that conversation, Alex Ross travelled to Cornwall to hear from fishermen who feel promises about regaining control of British waters and revitalising coastal communities have not been fulfilled.
Many readers agreed that fishing communities were let down – but argued the blame lies with the politicians who championed Brexit rather than with Brussels. Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson were repeatedly mentioned as figures who used fishermen as powerful symbols of the Leave campaign, making promises that ultimately proved impossible to deliver.
Others pointed out that concerns about trade barriers, exports and access to European markets were raised long before the referendum.
While some readers said they had little sympathy for those who voted Leave, many felt fishermen had been persuaded by a political campaign that overstated what Brexit could achieve.
Here’s what you had to say:
Food security starts at home
Sooner or later we’ll wake up and smell the coffee. We could easily become self-sufficient in food if we took the farming and fishing industries seriously.
Food security starts at home. I strongly believe in Europe, the EU, and the UK being part of the EU again – eventually – but every country needs to see its own home-grown industries as a vital part of its future security.
Britain doesn’t eat enough fish
“Fishing pulls on the heartstrings of the nation”. But does it?
The number of wet fish shops in this country is minuscule compared with Europe, where I have been (France, Belgium, Italy). I can go back decades when I have looked to buy wet fish in the UK unsuccessfully.
The supermarkets in France have a wide selection of fish on the counters, several times larger than ours. They eat fish. So it isn’t surprising if our fishermen sell their fish to Europe, now, thanks to Brexit, with a poor return. Yes, we love our fish and chips, but not enough to fund a prosperous fishing industry.
You reap what you sow
It’s extremely difficult to empathise with Cornish fishermen and fishermen generally. I have no personal or familial connection with the fishing industry, but I still managed to come to an evidence-based assessment that Vote Leave were less than forthright in relation to post-Brexit fishing.
Not to put too fine a point on it, Vote Leave lied through their teeth.
Fishermen voted Leave for entirely selfish reasons. Their narrow focus took no account of the wider ramifications of leaving the EU.
In which case, “you reap what you sow” seems a reasonable epithet.
Buyer’s remorse was inevitable
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told that the result of the vote was democracy in action, but I’ve always maintained that, in the context of our political system, it wasn’t democratic at all, and this story shows why.
These people made their choice based on the promises of a man who would never be in a position to deliver on them, as did a great many other people. It’s hardly a surprise that there’s a lot of buyer’s remorse around now.
Fishermen were used as political pawns
Rivers (or seas) of ink have been spilled about the warnings Brexiters were given that Brexit was a fantasy that would collapse as soon as it collided with reality – there’s been an astonishing amount of mental gymnastics involved with them rowing back on this. Unfortunately, UK fishermen were used by the likes of Farage and Johnson as so many pawns in a political game, who knew full well the fishing industry had become a figurehead for Brexit over the years.
The Newlyn fisherman Anthony Hoskin actually states that politicians didn’t have an understanding of our industry, and how they were ultimately betrayed; what a shocker. So when Farage and Johnson turned up on their quays and gave speeches, why did they believe they knew their industry better than they did?
One got the sense, in the end, that Brexiters thought it was going to be snatched away, so wanted it no matter what the cost; they were duly obliged.
No sympathy for Brexit-supporting fishermen
I must admit I have no sympathy for any fisherman who supported Brexit. They were warned what the implications were, and still many did it.
The fish from the UK fishing areas have one primary market: the EU, as the British do not like those fish, and transportation further afield is expensive and people do not want to pay those extra costs. Essentially, it was a vote to cut off the main market for their trade.
Brexit’s damage to shellfish exports
Brexit also inflicted severe, lasting damage on the UK shellfish industry, with Scotland’s valuable seafood sector taking a heavy hit. The transition out of the EU introduced costly and complex red tape, export delays, labour shortages and water-classification issues that devastated exports and left businesses struggling with spoiled stock. Add to that English coastal and estuary pollution, courtesy of our water companies, which has also closed oyster beds and mussel farms.
We can’t blame the EU for policies set by the British government
When members of the EU, the UK could have done what the French and Spanish do, which is require fishing boats with quotas from that country to land their catches in that country (so if you have a quota from France you have to land in France, etc.), and also ban the selling of quotas to fishing boats from other countries, so that the quota stays with the national fishing fleet (so, say, Spanish fishing boats can only sell their quota share to other Spanish boats).
This is entirely permissible under EU law.
It was successive UK governments that refused to do such things, even though they could have. They allowed British fishing boats to sell their share of the UK quota to French and Spanish boats. They didn’t require ships with UK quotas to land their catches in British ports. We can’t blame the EU for policies set by the British government – although heaven knows Five Houses Farage has made a career of trying to do just that.
Brexit wasn’t the problem, governments were
“We feel betrayed because we were convinced, promised, we were going to get these basic points, with the failure to uphold a limit on foreign vessels fishing within 12 nautical miles of the UK coasts being the biggest let-down.”
Yes, they were betrayed. But it wasn’t Brexit that betrayed them; it was the Boris Johnson government failing to take back control of our fishing waters because he panicked about getting a free trade deal with Brussels, and then Starmer giving the EU 12 years of fishing rights.
As always, the issue wasn’t Brexit; it was the failure of governments to deliver Brexit.
Farage never delivered for fishermen
Farage was meant to be sticking up for trawlermen while he was an MEP. He didn’t reckon they mattered, so very rarely even turned up to meetings, never mind did any research.
But they took part in events to support him and hoped that his line on Brexit would see life become easier for them. Them being let down looked obvious, given his history and the actual facts on the EU fishing set-up.
People should take on board now that Farage has not changed. He will not stick up for working people. The Reform leader is a millionaire looking to improve life for the already wealthy.
Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.
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