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The ‘Blue Wall’ Will Not Buy Empty Rhetoric Forever

Jayne Adye
May 6, 2021

The Prime Minister has had great electoral success through his messaging of Brexit being done, combined with the vaccine rollout. However, across the now 'Blue Wall' and areas like Hartlepool, if the Conservatives want to stay in power beyond the next General Election, then promises of 'Taking Back Control' must actually be delivered upon, rather than simply being more empty rhetoric argues Jayne Adye of Get Britain Out.

The Prime Minister continually claims we have finally 'Taken Back Control' of our country, specifically our waters, now we are outside the European Union. This messaging has been key to keeping Conservative electoral momentum high in typically Labour areas like Hartlepool. The voters in these regions, devastated by decades of EU membership, are desperate to finally see change, but as it stands it appears little is coming any time soon.

In a recent Freedom of Information Request to the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Get Britain Out has found that since the start of this year not a single application for a licence to fish inside the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) has been rejected. As a result, there are now 1,659 foreign vessels licenced to fish in UK waters, all of which vary in size, including a total of 68 boats over 164ft in length and 8 supertrawlers over the length of 328ft. These are boats which can catch hundreds of thousands of fish at a time and scoop up the bottom of the seabed, devastating the biodiversity of our seas.

With such a large number of foreign vessels allowed to fish our waters, with not a single rejected licence, how can the Government claim we have 'Taken Back Control' of our waters or expect the UK fishing to recover. Meanwhile we are doling out fishing licences willy nilly and getting zero in return except threats!

This makes a mockery of the Government's messaging and exposes the complete lack of action on behalf of DEFRA. However, it also shows the scale of delusion within the EU, after we have seen weeks of French fishermen complaining about not being given enough access to our waters. What do they expect, when we are no longer part of the EU Cartel? The reality is the EU, and in particular the French, seem to believe they should be given free rein over another country's land and sea.

As a Member of the EU, the UK contributed a huge amount of funding in the expectation of reciprocity. This never came. The hierarchy in Brussels simply milked us of everything they could dream up, including attempting to drain our sovereign waters of fish. It is about time the EU understood if they want a share of our assets, they must pay for it one way or another, including our fish.

EU and French delusion has now resulted in French officials claiming they will try to cut off electricity power to the island of Jersey, because the Government of Jersey has asked for vessels to have GPS systems onboard to allow boats to be tracked if and when, for example, they trespass in our waters. This should be a reasonable request for any logical person, yet the EU sees this as an insult, because they were not consulted prior to a change in our own regulations.

The EU's pushback, however, does more than show their own sense of self-importance. It demonstrates their belief that they can continue to dictate terms on fishing to the UK, even though we have left the EU. Actions like this only reinforce the fact this current UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement deal does not 'Take Back Control' of our waters (or anything else) and this is simply another area where the EU's interests and priorities are still being put ahead of the UK's.

It's about time Prime Minister Boris Johnson wakes up to reality. The Government has simply sat on its hands and pumped out more empty rhetoric in the run up to the local elections today (May 6th), not just on fishing, but on Financial Services, Northern Ireland, the rights of UK citizens in the EU and far more.

Brexit is by no means done and dusted!

The Conservatives may undoubtedly do well across many Brexit voting areas in the Local Elections this week. However, the Prime Minister himself has conceded these votes have been temporarily 'borrowed' because people had become exhausted with local Labour politicians not sticking to their promises.

Right now, Boris might be able to just about get by on his vaccine rollout success and the façade that Brexit is done, but if the Government want these 'borrowed votes' to stick around until the next General Election, then your actions must match your promises Prime Minister. Voters will not continue to accept false promises or more of the status quo, which is exactly what is happening at the moment under the guise of nothing else can be done because of the pandemic! This is hopefully under control now, so it is about time the Prime Minister gets his act together, instead of making announcements about his new White Paper on so-called 'Levelling Up', he should get on with placing the bill in front of Parliament and stop simply talking about it.

The fight to get Britain out of the EU is supposed to be a 'Done Deal' Prime Minister. However, unless you get on with sorting out the fine print, you will lose the opportunities of a lifetime for the people of this great country.

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Jayne Adye is the Director of the leading cross-Party Eurosceptic campaign Get Britain Out
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