Moray SNP News

MORAY MP SETS OUT KEY BREXIT CONCERNS FOLLOWING PM SPEECH

Moray’s MP Angus Robertson has set out key Brexit concerns that would affect Moray, following the Prime Minister’s Brexit Speech this week.

The local MP says that the risk to key sectors in Moray including fishing, farming and food and drink production is starker than ever.

Angus Robertson MP said:

“In recent weeks we have seen the Prime Minister showing her true colours. This week’s announcement that she is planning a full exit from the Single Market is deeply concerning.

“For our fishing sector the European Single Market is the largest seafood marketplace in the world. For our agricultural sector around 70 percent of farm income comes through the Common Agricultural Policy and for the food and drink sector, including the vital Scotch Whisky industry, the ability to trade without tariffs is hugely important to the health of the industry.

“The Tories cannot be allowed to drag us out of Europe and the single market, regardless of the impact on our economy, jobs, living standards and our reputation as an open, tolerant country, without Scotland having the ability to choose between that and a different future.

“The Prime Minister gave the game away towards the end of her speech when she talked of the potential for the UK to become a low wage, low tax, deregulated economy - that is simply a recipe to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

“The Prime Minister made a reference to Spanish fishermen and their interests when she was talking about doing a deal with the EU. That suggests that fishing is already a consideration in these negotiations. I am very concerned that the Tories could be ready to sell out the fishing industry once again, just as they did when they sold out on the CFP.

“They couldn’t be trusted then when Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath said the fishing industry was expendable and with Theresa May’s reference to the Spanish fishing industry, they cannot be trusted now.

“The EU is not the problem here, it is the hidden agenda of the Prime Minister and her party.”