Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has vowed to double Brexit Britain’s fishing zone after issuing a major warning about Labour’s negotiations with the European Union.
As rumours circulate about Sir Keir Starmer buckling to Brussels to secure a cross-Channel defence deal, the Clacton MP promised to extend the waters from which foreign boats are barred without permission from six miles to 12 miles from shore.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Farage said: “For the inshore fishing communities, which have for centuries been the mainstay of Britain’s coastal communities, the situation is pretty catastrophic.
“The disappointment and the anger in the industry with the Tories since Brexit almost knows no bounds, and if Labour make it worse, I think it may well be the end of an industry.
Nigel Farage in Ramsgate
GETTY
“We would reclaim the 12-mile exclusive fishing zone and any boat that fished between six and 12 would do so with our ability to inspect and our ability to set the rules.”
Ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson was accused of selling out fishermen by failing to secure a better deal with the EU.
However, under the terms of the current deal, European vessels will next year lose their automatic right to fish in British seas and will have to negotiate access annually.
Despite boasting last year about increasing Britain’s haul by £306million, Labour now looks set to make concessions on fishing access as part of Starmer’s EU reset.
The fishing industry GETTYFishing industry bodies have also failed to convince the Government to leave the Common Fisheries Policy, a decision Farage said leaves foreign fishermen able to “plunder” Britain’s coastal seas.
Farage, who warned Starmer is planning a “full-on betrayal”, added: “Who has got the whip hand in these negotiations? If we settle for this new deal, who’s actually in charge?
“The madness, of course, is that, managed correctly, the fish in the sea are the greatest renewable source that we possess as an island.”
Reform UK could receive a welcome seaside surge in the upcoming Local Elections, with a YouGov opinion poll suggesting ex-Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns may win as the populist party’s Greater Lincolnshire mayoral candidate.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is set to meet with Macron and other leaders (
PA
GB News last year reported on how fishing communities had lost their faith in the Tories and were prepared for Labour to sell them out to the Europeans.
Cornish skipper Bracken Pearce told the People’s Channel: “If Starmer secures the six to the 12 (mile limit), that would be symbolic. That’s what everybody really wanted but they sound like they’re going to do the opposite.”
Despite opinion polls suggesting Reform UK would secure dozens of coastal constituencies, the Tories lost 62 of its 81 “sea wall” seats in the 2024 General Election.
After being ravaged by EU vessels for half a century, fishermen dealt the Tories a bloody nose after Johnson only managed to secure the phased repatriation of just 25 per cent of Brussels’ old quotas by value.
The ex-Prime Minister had hoped for a 60 per cent cut, with the costs of new paperwork bringing further burdensome red tape to coastal communities.
