Fishing must be UK 'red line' in EU constitution

The return of Scotland’s fishing grounds to national control must be a ‘red line’ demand of the UK government in the negotiations over the new EU constitution, Shadow First Minister Mr John Swinney MSP said today (Friday) as he called for a referendum to be held before any constitution is introduced.

Speaking as it emerged that EU leaders plan to finalise the constitution by June, Mr Swinney said:

“EU control of Scotland’s fishing industry has been a catastrophe. It has led to half the fleet being decommissioned and thousands of job losses.

“To add insult to injury, our fishermen have been forced to watch as foreign boats have been left free to plunder traditional Scottish haddock grounds while Scots boats are banned from fishing.

“The draft EU constitution enshrines Brussels control; that must not be allowed to happen. Tony Blair must make national control of fishing one of the UK’s ‘red lines’ for the negotiations and then put the final text to a referendum of the people.

“Scotland has had enough betrayals at the hands of Brussels and Westminster. It’s time to fight for our fishing fleet.”