We woke up this morning to the news that the UK is ready to kick off a legal fight with France, and possibly the EU, in the clash over Channel fishing rights as early as next week, according to reports from Boris Johnson.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Rome, the prime minister ramped up tensions between the two countries by hinting at sending the dispute to independent arbitration. The post-Brexit trade deal includes a dispute resolution mechanism that allows controversies to be referred to an independent body, if they cannot be resolved in direct talks.
Asked if he is “not ruling out that you might trigger the mechanism next week”, Mr Johnson told Sky News: “No of course not. I don’t rule that out.”
This approach by Johnson is surprising in that it is clearly in contradiction of his Referendum and Brexit pledge that the UK would make its own rules and its own decisions. Now he is suggesting that the dispute will be settled by an international mediation organisation which will binding decisions which may or may not be the result that the Tories want.
Less surprising is the fact that there is a dispute at all. Readers of my blog will recall that the whole of the Withdrawal Agreement was nearly shipwrecked overfishing. This is an industry which is totemic and important to certain areas but accounts for way under 1% of our overall export figure.
The warning came as French President, Emmanuel Macron turned his fire on the UK’s actions, ahead of meeting the prime minister in Rome on Sunday, supposedly about aims for the Cop26 climate summit.
He called the fishing row a test of the UK’s credibility in the eyes of the world, telling The Financial Times: “Make no mistake, it is not just for the Europeans but all of their partners. Because, when you spend years negotiating a treaty and then a few months later you do the opposite of what was decided, on the aspects that suit you the least, it is not a big sign of your credibility.”
In this Macron is entirely correct. Our international credibility is being put on the line in many ways because of Brexit. Our Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, has expressed amazement that the EU wants to stick to the Withdrawal Agreement which the UK Parliament supported only a year ago with final details only being thrashed out before last Christmas. The PM has suggested that the UK would be prepared to tear up that agreement although fortunately in this case the rhetoric fails to meet the reality.
Both sides are accusing the other of failing to abide by the terms of the trade and cooperation agreement, over access for French fishing vessels to UK and Jersey waters. Interestingly it now appears that the small UK trawler at the heart of the dispute hasn’t got the correct papers to allow it to fish in French waters!
Mr Johnson added: “If another European country wants to break the Trade and Cooperation agreement – then obviously we will have to take steps to protect UK interests.”
Asked if he believed France had committed a breach, he said: “I am worried that there might have. I am looking at what is going on at the moment and I think that we need to sort it out.” So, he concedes he is not on top of the issue but nevertheless can make increasingly bellicose statements about it.
What does this say about our international standing? It clearly means that other Countries will be concerned about the deal that it has struck with the UK. At one time an ‘Englishman’s word was his bond’. That has enabled us to trade cheaply and efficiently but to create a few headlines Clown Johnson is throwing all that aside.
The Government boasts that more than 60 trade deals have been struck on a bilateral basis with other Countries. Of, course, they don’t acknowledge that all but three of them have been basically rolled over the existing terms that were in the original EU trade agreement with that Country.
The Government are also swatting aside the information from the Office for Budget Responsibility that the Brexit deal will cost the UK’s economy twice as much as Brexit. A Minister told the BBC on Thursday that this news, from the Government’s own forecasters was, ‘old news’. In fact, it had only been released the day before.
I think that the fishing dispute and the Northern Ireland protocol disputes are symptomatic of what is to come. The people of the UK are increasingly realising that they have been sold a pup. As they see shelves emptying, they know who to blame. As they see our economy effectively emerging from the pandemic at a rate faster than our EU neighbours, they know who to blame. As they see global energy costs going up at a higher rate in the UK than in the rest of Europe, they know who to blame.
As this realisation grows and grows the Government will lash out more and more. Who will they blame? Anyone but themselves. It’s the fault of Remainers, unimaginative businesses, Johnny Foreigner, Unions and the Labour Party. Labour is constrained because they voted for the Withdrawal Agreement in an act of unprincipled cowardice.
We need now to form the alliance to take us back first into the Single Market, a relatively simple thing to do and one which the EU member states urged. Then when that is complete, we need to re-join the EU. As Johnson ratchets up xenophobic sentiment the rest of us need to ratchet up logical debates and discussions about why leaving the EU was a mistake and why a return is the only long-term solution.
But what does Richard Kemp think? 