Brexit news 29 Jan 2020
GOVERNMENT PUBLISHES FISHERIES BILL TO ‘TAKE BACK CONTROL OF OUR WATERS’… All fish stocks in UK waters will be fished at sustainable levels after Brexit, the government says, as it publishes new legislation. The Fisheries Bill gives the UK power to operate as an independent coastal state and guarantees it will quit the EU Common Fisheries Policy in December. Environment group Greener UK welcomed the focus on sustainability. But fishing is likely to be a key area of contention in post-Brexit trade talks between the EU and UK. The Common Fisheries Policy currently sets out how much British fishermen can catch and where. It also allows vessels registered elsewhere in the EU to fish in UK waters – but the new legislation will end those automatic rights of access. Instead, access will be for the UK to negotiate in the future and foreign vessels will have to be licensed if they fish in British waters. Earlier this week, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told the BBC the UK “may hav...