Their expectations were already low, but the scale of Keir Starmer’s betrayal has left Scotland’s fishing industry stunned and angry.
In his private agreement with the European Union, the Prime Minister has once again displayed his unerring ability to get the worst possible deal out of any negotiation he enters into.
In some cases, like handing over the Chagos Islands and paying through the nose to do it, he seems inexplicably eager to sell the UK’s interests down the water.
With less spine than a jellyfish, his craven and unnecessary capitulation to Brussels is breathtaking, even by his dreadful standards.
In one fell swoop, the Labour leader has handed back every advantage that the fishing industry had gained from our EU exit.
It is worth noting that selling out Scotland’s fishing industry came during talks which were primarily about the UK helping Europe to defend itself from Putin’s aggression.
It takes a certain kind of incompetence to come out worse in a deal where you’re holding all the cards.
The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was widely despised by fishermen, and for good reason.
The deal agreed by the previous UK government when we left the EU and the CFP may not have been perfect. But Starmer’s cruel sellout is far worse.
Scotland’s fishing industry, a larger part of the economy to a greater extent than in England, is central to coastal communities and an irreplaceable part of our heritage.
It was, even with the extensions granted to EU countries to fish in our waters – and which were about to come to an end – becoming increasingly prosperous.
Yet the EU still takes seven times more fish by value from our waters than we take from theirs.
Now Keir Starmer has been bullied by the French into letting that continue for years.
This Labour government has already shown its ignorance of the rural economy with its spiteful Family Farm Tax which risks food security in the misguided belief that all farmers are rich.
Starmer’s fishy fish deal demonstrates the same contempt and lack of understanding towards Scotland’s fishing communities.
What about John Swinney’s hand-wringing?
All you need to know is that the SNP would immediately return to full EU membership – complete with the inevitable return of the hated CFP.
They would be even quicker than Labour at casting aside the interests of Scotland’s fishing industry for their own political advantage.
Only the Scottish Conservatives are standing up for our fishing industry, while the other parties compete to see how badly they can sell it out.
My colleagues Harriet Cross MP in Westminster and Tim Eagle MSP at Holyrood, along with many other strong Tory voices, have long warned what Sir Keir might be plotting.
Now we have confirmation that Labour has zero interest in standing up for one of Scotland’s most successful sectors.
Scotland is responsible for 60 per cent of UK fish production, despite the fact that we account for less than 10 per cent of the UK population.
The industry supports thousands of Scottish jobs, direct and indirect, and contributes hundreds of millions of pounds to the economy.
Our salmon, mussels, herring, cod, mackerel, langoustines and Arbroath smokies are on the finest menus across the globe.
Fish and chips are practically a shorthand for Britain in most other countries – and it’s a good bet that it was Scotland that produced the fish (and probably the potatoes for the chips, too).
What kind of signal does it send to the rest of the world when the UK Labour Prime Minister is happy to throw the whole of that industry, that heritage, and those communities, overboard without a second thought?
It has parallels with Keir Starmer’s approach to another key Scottish industry – oil and gas – which he’s also intent on crushing.
Despite the anti-business policies of Scotland’s two left-wing governments, the fishing industry was one of the areas in which we were seeing real growth.
These are jobs that make a real and growing contribution to Scotland’s economy, revitalising our proud coastal communities.
They’ve already suffered from almost two decades of neglectful SNP mismanagement and, for islanders, the ferries scandal.
They’ve had to cope with more and more taxes being piled on them by both Labour and the SNP.
All on top of red tape which is a legacy of EU rules which we’re supposed to have walked away from.
Our fishing communities, even against the carnage inflicted upon them by Labour and the SNP, are a success story.
They should be promoted and protected to grow prosperity.
But Keir Starmer has cruelly sold them out. The SNP would do exactly the same.
Under my leadership, the Scottish Conservatives will never abandon Scotland’s fishing industry.
We will always stand up for this crucial part of our economy, our heritage and our communities.
