How Scotland was BRUTALLY snubbed over EU fishing talks – 'It was a slap in the face!'

Boris Johnson‘s success in securing Brexit at the end of last month raised significant challenges for Nicola Sturgeon and her independence bid. There are still questions over which currency an independent Scotland would use, its significant deficit and the difficulties of having a hard border with the rest of the UK, which would impact 60 percent of Scotland’s trade. Moreover, Scotland would likely not be able to obtain concessions the UK had while within the EU, such as less onerous VAT rules or exemption from the Schengen Agreement.

The country would also be expected to rejoin the Common Fisheries Policy – a system which boosted the pro-Brexit vote in Scottish fishing areas.

As uncertainty over the future of the union continues, a 2013 BBC report has resurfaced, which reveals how the SNP once fought Brussels over their fishing rights.

Seven years ago, then-Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead furiously hit out at the UK Government, claiming that sending a Conservative peer to represent Scottish fishermen at EU talks was a “slap in the face” for Scotland.

Speaking from Brussels, Mr Lochhead told BBC the UK government had agreed in 2010 that, when circumstances were appropriate, Scotland could lead at European fishing talks when the subjects up for discussion were primarily Scottish.

He added: “Yet here we are in a situation today where the UK secretary of state is in Brussels but she thinks she has got other things she wants to do other than attending the council.

“So she has drafted in Rupert Ponsonby, the seventh Baron de Mauley, from the House of Lords to represent the UK even although I am here.

“I think that is a bit of a snub for Scotland and a slap in the face.

“I have now got to sit down with Lord de Mauley and brief him in what’s important for Scotland, explain to him the background, the circumstances.

“I have to hope he’ll take that on board as he leads these talks.”

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He also pointed out that Scottish boats in 2012 landed 95 percent of the quotas that would have been discussed at the Brussels talks, adding: “You couldn’t have a more Scottish issue.

“The Scottish minister is here, the circumstances are very appropriate and yet the UK government is taking this ridiculous decision to draft in an unelected member of the House of Lords.

“Surely I am much better qualified to sit at the top table and discuss those issues than a minister who has got no fisheries experience whatsoever.”

In a letter sent to then Prime Minister David Cameron, former SNP leader Alex Salmond wrote it would be have been “travesty” and “a recipe for further failure in Europe” if the industry was represented by Lord de Mauley rather than Mr Lochhead.

Responding to Mr Salmond’s letter, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The Government takes its responsibility to act for all parts of the UK extremely seriously.

“Our ministers put our country’s interests first and foremost in all they do.

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