ENTREPRENEURIAL Scotland is well represented in the new Council of Economic Advisors to the Scottish Government. I expect it will shortly get down to considering the country’s huge potential to create clean energy far beyond our domestic requirements. No doubt it will also look at the prospect of exporting clear, clean water as Europe and the south of England warm up due to climate change. Already several very big businesses are gathering to bid for offshore wind licences from the Scottish Government ( Giants increase competition for windfarm licences off Scotland , The Herald, July 16). This evokes a strong sense of déjà vu, as I recall Westminster doling out the oil exploration and development licences in the early 1970s. Big Oil rewarded Scotland with several decades of hard-working jobs extracting this national resource from our waters and Aberdeen enjoyed boom times – now a distant memory.
| UPDATED: 14:41, Thu, Feb 18, 2021
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In December, EU ministers gathered in Brussels to establish fishing opportunities in the form of yearly total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas – in what was expected to be the final step towards the legal obligation to end overfishing by 2020. The new Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius claimed almost all fish landings from the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea will now come from sustainable resources. However, the deal struck in Brussels fails to meet targets recom
TORY ministers treat the export crisis threatening to sink Scotland’s fishing sector “like they’re discussing the rules of croquet”, Fergus Ewing says. In the past fortnight, the country’s iconic fishing industry has entered an unprecedented storm as Brexit red tape prevents fresh produce valued in European markets from crossing the Channel. Around one third of the fleet is tied up at harbour as custom is cut off, and loads of langoustines that were bound for traders in France and Spain have had to be dumped. Logistics firms are caught too in a roadblock thrown up by the terms of the UK’s EU withdrawal deal, enacted suddenly after a last-minute agreement was reached while the UK Fisheries Minister was organising a village nativity trail.
WHERE Scotland was once the fiefdom of the Labour Party and where it used to be said that if it put a donkey up as a candidate it would be elected overwhelmingly, now the party is clinging on by its fingertips in Holyrood, having slipped into third place behind the Tories. Its solitary Westminster MP makes it look like the Scottish representation in Westminster could soon be an extinct species and, without Scotland in its grasp, the party has little hope of regaining power in Westminster. The last two leaders of Scottish Labour in Holyrood have lacked a presence and cutting edge, without which no impression has been made on the Scottish electorate or in the Holyrood chamber.
Tory Fisheries Minister did not read Brexit deal which costs Scottish fleet £1 million a day in losses dailyrecord.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailyrecord.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.