Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the economic viability of the UK's distant water fleet.

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement primarily secures fishing opportunities in UK-EU waters, so predominantly relates to sectors of the UK fleet that fish more local waters.

Our new framework agreements with Norway and the Faroe Islands provide for annual negotiations on access to fishing opportunities in those distant waters. Those negotiations are underway.

We will continue to work with the distant water sector so that it can take advantage of future opportunities.