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The UK has had arrangements with its neighbours for centuries about fishing boats in its sovereign waters... including the centuries when Brittannia literally ruled the waves. The neighbours are now all in the EU (except Norway and Iceland), but the idea that Brexit puts them in a stronger position in these negotiations is a bit odd. Boris putting the issue front and centre for the do-or-die cliff-edge negotiations was always a bit risky... and now he has effectively died, without a wimper, on this issue. Very Boris of him.
As for the UK fishing people crying ruin... I find this odd, they certainly haven't lost anything. One supposes that some have made big investments to increase their capacity, based on a Boris promise. They should have bought Boris insurance. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
Not v. significant in the grand scheme of things especially if an independent Scotland takes much of it away with them in due course.
What the agreement does do (besides saving Irish agricultural exports) is ensure that any UK decline will be a slow burn rather than an abrupt collapse. I'm sure the French won't make it easy for non-essential goods to pass through Calais, but that's another story. UK manufacturing is dying on its feet in any case, and and can't see the EU granting equivalence for UK services any time soon.
But most Brexiteers I have blogged with seem happy to move on at this stage. I'm not sure they realise just how profound the long term cumulative effects will be. Index of Frank's Diaries
It is comparable to the argument over here about what is the "most American car." It depends entirely on how you measure it: the brand, the location of the corporate headquarters, the location of the assembly plants, the location of the supplier factories...
My guess is that a bunch of French fishing fleet owners will work out how to leverage the new system so that they can still catch fish and sell them to the fish and chips shops in England. Maybe at a higher price as the rules and regulations are clarified.
It is a bit nuts to expect prices to stay the same when you pull out of a free trade agreement and enter into an agreement where trade costs increase.
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