The government have not delivered the Brexit fisherman wanted.
The chief executive of the Scottish Seafood Association, a former Tory election candidate and long-term Brexit supporter, has said the way the UK left the EU was “a car crash” for Scotland’s fishing industry.
Speaking to parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee, Jimmy Buchan said the government was “in denial” over the scale and severity of the problems Scottish fishermen are facing exporting to the European Union.
“For our members, it has not been the best deal,” Buchan said. “The government, to a degree, is still in denial. These are not teething problems.”
He added: “During all the period since Brexit, there were many occasions to do things differently. There were opportunities to stay in the Customs Union and stay in the Single Market. These were turned down by the politicians.”
Despite some Leave campaigners saying the UK would stay in the Single Market, in 2017 Theresa May pledged to leave both the Customs Union and the Single Market.
The Scottish fishing industry exports most of its products in trucks to Kent to France and the European Union. The end of the transition period on January 1st meant that additional paperwork is now required for this journey.
For example, vets have to inspect every box of seafood and salmon before it leaves Scotland. Buchan said there was not enough of these vets and that, at £43 an hour, paying them was expensive.
Buchan and representative of Food and Drink Scotland and the Clyde Fishermens Association said that small mistakes in one piece of paperwork could delay a whole truck’s worth of fresh produce.
For example, Buchan said, administrators in Scotland are supposed to tick ‘chilled’, ‘frozen’ or ‘ambient’ for each truck. If they fail to do so, trucks can be delayed at the Kent border for up to 18 hours while new paperwork is sent down from Scotland.
Buchan, who was the Tory candidate for Banff and Buchan in 2010, criticised the government for only launching the new paperwork systems at the last minute.
One key system, the catch certificate portal, didn’t go live until December 28 and was “full of glitches” with “helpines not sufficiently manned”. “It was a car crash,” he said.
Shortly after the 2016 referendum, Buchan argued “a huge number of Scots want to leave” the EU and “my fishing industry colleagues and I don’t want a situation where we’re being dragged back into the EU against our will.”
He wrote: “Scotland is already known worldwide for its food and drink. In my opinion, Brexit will only help us grow our reputation further by securing fair trade agreements which benefit us and our fishing industry in a way we haven’t seen before. We have never had an opportunity like this and we should seize it with both hands.”
Joe Lo is a co-editor of Left Foot Forward
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