The food minister has faced calls to explain the “ocean-going madness” of spending less than 8% of a new fishing fund on Scotland.
Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael pressed Dame Angela Eagle to say when she planned to look again at Scotland’s £28 million allocation from the £360 million UK-wide package.
Scotland lands the most fish by quantity and value out of the four UK nations, according to the Government, and the Scottish fishing fleet has landed more than three-quarters of UK quota species, such as cod, haddock and herring, over recent years.
The Government earlier this year set out its intention to back coastal communities with funding when negotiators struck a 12-year agreement with the EU, granting British fishing access and rights with no increase in the amount which EU vessels can catch in UK waters.
“We are working closely with our fishing and seafood sectors to ensure that they’re vibrant, profitable and sustainable alongside a healthy and productive marine environment,” Dame Angela told the Commons.
She said the Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund will “support the next generation of fishers and breathe new life into our coastal communities”.
Dame Angela continued: “This fund recognises the vital contribution that fishing and coastal communities make to our economy, local communities and national heritage. Designing this fund with stakeholders is paramount to its success, and we want to work with industry and communities to get their views on how to maximise value, and target investment for maximum local impact.”
The minister added the fund “would be devolved, providing devolved governments with full discretion of how to allocate funding and reaffirming this Government’s commitment to devolution”, with the allocations for Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont based on the Barnett Formula.
Liberal Democrat MP Mr Carmichael, who chairs the Commons’ Environmental, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, told MPs: “Let’s not forget that this fund was created because the Prime Minister went and rolled over for 12 years the catastrophically bad deal that Boris Johnson gave us for five.
“If the minister is sincere when she says that the aim of the Government is to maximise local investment, then to use the Barnett Formula to distribute this is ocean-going madness.”
Mr Carmichael asked: “When will this funding formula be reviewed and when will we hear exactly where this money will be spent and what it will be made available for, wherever it’s going to be?”
Dame Angela replied: “Certainly, for devolved parts of the fund, he’ll have to ask the Scottish Government what they’re going to do with that and he may wish also to ask whether there’s any extra money from the devolved CSR (comprehensive spending review) process, which gave the Scottish Government an extra £8.5 billion to spend this year.”
Brendan O’Hara described the allocation as a “kick in the teeth to those fishing communities” in his Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber constituency.
The SNP MP added: “We are all agreed that this formula is fundamentally unfair, so can I ask the minister, did the Secretary of State for Scotland (Douglas Alexander) at any point come to her department and specifically urge her to reverse this decision? Yes or no?”
Dame Angela said: “Following Brexit, since leaving the EU, as part of the trade and co-operation agreement, the UK received an uplift in fishing quotas – 65% of that went to Scotland.
“On 2024 figures, that was worth £107 million, so I think Scotland’s got a reasonable deal, and remember that uplift in quota which creates real income actually is locked in going forward.”
Mairi Gougeon, the Scottish Government’s Rural Affairs Secretary, has previously written to Dame Angela, describing the allocation as “wholly unacceptable”.
She said the deal is “yet another negative consequence of Brexit, which the people of Scotland did not vote for”, and continued: “I strongly urge you to reconsider this approach, and enter into discussions at the earliest possible opportunity with myself, and our colleagues in Wales and Northern Ireland, to agree an alternative approach which treats each of our respective industries and communities with the respect they deserve.”
Wales’s Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund allocation was £18 million, with Northern Ireland set to receive £10 million.
