Seafood protest images ‘should haunt the Scottish Tories’

The Justice Secretary, sharing photos of Scottish shellfish and seafood lorries displaying “the Brexit truth” on the sides of their trailers, added: “Your betrayal will not be forgotten.”

Boris Johnson’s £23 million compensation fund for those who “have faced difficulties exporting where there is a genuine willing buyer” has also been dismissed by the party, with shadow environment, food and rural affairs spokesperson Deidre Brock stating it was “a compensation minnow when the industry needed a whale”.

The SNP have repeatedly demanded for the UK Government to deliver on its promise of compensation for fishing communities that have been left facing devastation in the wake of the Tories’ Brexit deal.

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But upon the announcement, the party highlighted that “they seem to be struggling to find anything” in comparison to payments provided for private contracts throughout the pandemic.

It came as a number of HGVs descended on Downing Street, lining up on roads near Parliament Square after facing issues in exporting seafood to the EU following the UK’s exit from the European Union.

Lorries carried messages criticising the “incompetent” Government for “destroying” businesses.

Exports of fresh fish and seafood have been severely disrupted by delays since the UK’s transition period ended on December 31.

The new checks and paperwork have been causing delays for the industry since then, with seafood producers growing increasingly frustrated at the lack of government action.

Lorries transporting freshly-caught produce have been held up at distribution hubs and many have struggled to enter into France, while some Scots have taken to landing their catch in Denmark to avoid the “bureaucratic system” that exports to Europe now involve.

Despite the deal’s disastrous outcome in the last two weeks, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab moved to dismiss the issues when presented with testimonies from struggling businesses on Sunday, simply referring to them as “teething problems”.

His comments were challenged by firms hit by the Tory deal.

A spokesperson for Eyemouth-based DR Collin & Son, who took part in the protest, said: “These are not ‘teething issues’ as reported by the Government, and the consequences of these problems will be catastrophic on the lives of fishermen, fishing towns and the shellfish industry as a whole.”

Speaking to the BBC following the protest, the Prime Minister confirmed his £23m compensation offer would be made available to those struggling.

But he continued to champion his deal even while the industry took to the streets of London to make their struggle clear, stating: “There are great opportunities for fishermen to take advantage of the spectacular marine wealth of the United Kingdom.”

But such sentiments are not shared by Scotland’s seafood sector, with Alasdair Hughson, Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation chairman, saying: “It is inevitable that the UK shellfish industry would want to make its voice heard loud and clear on this matter.

“After the year that all of these businesses have had, struggling to survive against the odds, now faced with this situation, to now find themselves being blamed for not completing forms correctly when they are all just trying to follow Government guidelines which are unclear and changing all of the time.

READ MORE: Seafood protesters fined after protest over Brexit chaos for fishing industry

“If this debacle does not improve very soon we are looking at many established businesses coming to the end of the line.”

In response to the compensation package, Brock said: “This is a compensation minnow when the industry needed a whale. The Tory government could find untold wealth to line the pockets of their pals in dodgy Covid deals but they seem to be struggling to find anything substantive to offer struggling fishing communities.

“Over a million pounds a day in lost sales, a huge task to get back the customers they’ve lost and the whole supply chain will need rebooted, but this is all the Tories can offer and there’s still no prospect of sorting out the export paperwork system which failed on day one and continues to fail now.

“The Tories have broken their Brexit promises and betrayed Scotland’s fishing communities – forcing the vital sector to pay a heavy price.

“In contrast to the dismissive rhetoric from the Tory government – with Boris Johnson going as far as to blame the fishing industry for ‘not filling in the right forms’ – the EU has outlined plans for around €600m to support European fishing communities.”