UK accused of 'threatening' EU with Royal Navy over Brexit fishing rights row

Britain was accused of “gunboat diplomacy” tonight after “threatening” Brussels with the Royal Navy over Brexit fishing rights.

Negotiating teams trying to thrash out the future relationship between the UK and EU are in a race against time to make real progress before the end of June.

An 11-month transition is due to expire on December 31 – the deadline for agreeing a trade deal.

But talks are deadlocked over a series of issues, including allowing European boats access to British waters.

Fishing rights have become a major battleground with Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove saying the EU wanted access to UK fishing grounds, while restricting British access to its markets.

He accused Brussels of an “ideological approach” from the EU over fisheries.

UK chief Brexit negotiator David Frost said the bloc was seeking continued access to UK fishing waters after the transition period "in a way that is incompatible with our future status as an independent coastal state".

MPs have questioned how the Government could police rules governing the amount of fish EU trawlers can pluck from UK seas – and where they can cast their nets.

Now, a Defence Minister has signalled Royal Navy frigates and destroyers could be scrambled if a dispute unfolded.

Tory MP Julian Lewis, a former chairman of the Defence Select Committee, tabled a written Commons question asking the Ministry of Defence to “list the Royal Navy vessels currently available and which will be made available for fishery protection at the end of the transition period”.

Defence Minister James Heappey said: “The Royal Navy does not maintain vessels exclusively employed for fishery protection activities; however, it does have and operate three River Class Offshore Patrol Vessels currently in UK waters, that conduct fishery patrol tasking alongside their other defence tasks.

“HMS Mersey, Tyne and Severn are, and will continue to be, used to fulfil the Royal Navy's commitments under the Memorandum of Understanding between the Royal Navy and the Marine Management Organisation.

“In addition, the Royal Navy maintains a number of high readiness forces in UK waters that could be called upon to assist if requested.”

The warning raises the prospect of high-seas clashes between British warships and European fishing boats.

Lib Dem leadership hopeful, MP Layla Moran, said it revived memories of the Cod Wars between Britain and Iceland in the 1960s and 1970s.

She told the Mirror: "Now is the time for grown-up discussion with the EU, not gunboat diplomacy.

"These countries are our friends and allies, and in this day and age the Government should thrash out Brexit related-issues around the negotiating table, not on the high seas.
"The Government is threatening Brussels with the Royal Navy.

“The Cod Wars have thankfully been consigned to history.

“No-one needs or wants a 'Bream Battle' to take its place."

Fishing rows have already unfolded during the lengthy Brexit process.

In August 2018, fishermen from the UK and France clashed off the coast of Normandy, with sailors hurling rocks and vessels crashing into each other.

Trouble flared over a long-running row about British boats harvesting the shellfish in the Seine Bay.