29 Nov 2018
Nicola Sturgeon has refused to deny her plan for the break-up of Britain would drag Scotland straight back into the hated Common Fisheries Policy.
She was challenged today at First Minister’s Questions to clarify her party’s stance on the CFP – a process an independent Scotland would be forced to join should it reapply to the EU.
Scottish Conservative interim leader Jackson Carlaw said the Prime Minister’s deal would see the UK become an independent coastal state, a point backed by the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation.
However, the First Minister reaffirmed that she would not be signing an SFF pledge making that very demand.
The SNP has repeatedly said the priority of a separate Scotland would be to rejoin the EU.
But article 38.1 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states: “The union shall define and implement a common agriculture and fishing policy.”
That would mean Scotland would be forced to go straight back into the controversial arrangement, even though it would have left with the rest of the UK in 2020 under current agreements.
Scottish Conservative interim leader Jackson Carlaw said:
“The reason Nicola Sturgeon can’t back the fishermen’s pledge is that she’s trapped by her own ideology on the EU.
“She made it clear again today that, were she to have her way, she’d drag Scotland straight back in to the hated CFP.
“If that’s not selling out Scotland’s fishing industry, I don’t know what is.
“The nationalists can’t have it both ways.
“They either back the Prime Minister’s deal which would allow us control over our own waters again, or they back the chaos of a no-deal scenario.
“Nicola Sturgeon wants to vote down this deal for no other reason than she thinks it will help her second independence referendum obsession.
“That’s not in Scotland’s interests, and it’s not standing up for Scotland.”
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