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Chief Brexit negotiator Lord Frost reportedly said the UK would be willing to accept a cut of around 33 per cent in the EU’s fishing quota if the bloc backs down in other areas, sources told Bloomberg. close to conversations. The offer is far more generous than the 60 percent cut Britain demanded last week from the EU to secure a trade deal.
On Friday, the EU said a 25 percent cut was the most it would accept.
The offer is being launched with hard-line member states such as France and Denmark to determine how the bloc’s Brexit envoy Michel Barnier should respond.
In response to the offer, former Brexit Party MEP Jake Pugh said such conditions would be “totally unacceptable” to long-suffering British fishermen.
And fellow ex-MEP June Mummery warned that coastal communities across the UK would be “done away” if fishermen were forced to watch their European counterparts keep such a large proportion of catches after December 31st.
Mummery also rejected the idea of a post-Brexit transition period for fishing, insisting that British industry needs to rebuild immediately.
The UK has said it would accept a three-year transition period in fisheries, while the EU is pushing for seven years.
Both parties could reach an agreement if they meet halfway.
Pugh also said that the EU’s call for Britain to adhere to the so-called level playing field on competition rules is a “trap”.
READ MORE: Brexit: Emmanuel Macron sent ‘veiled threat’ to Michel Barnier
Mummery echoed her concerns about Lord Frost’s offer.
She said: “If Frost has sold us, the coastal and fishing communities will be over, we have to completely rebuild now if we want to save British fisheries.
“A period of transition will be our death.”
Martin Daubney, a former Brexit Party MEP and editor of the Unlocked UK media channel, said that if the EU accepted the UK’s latest offer, the Conservative Party would suffer significantly because Boris Johnson promised to protect fishermen.
Daubney warned that Johnson would be seen as another former Prime Minister Ted Heath if he did not protect the livelihoods of trawlers under a deal.
He said: “In 1973, Ted Heath sank our fishing industry by selling it to the European Economic Community (EEC).
“If Boris Johnson, after all his bragging, does the same thing again, then this conservative government deserves to be torpedoed not only by the 186 coastal communities, but also by all those who left the Red Wall and put their faith in the conservatives for the first time. .
“This would be seen as the ultimate Brexit betrayal by the 17.4 million who voted to regain control.”
And Ann Widdecombe was equally critical of the fishing supply.
The former Brexit Party MEP said: “Nothing should be contemplated other than total control of our own seas.”
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