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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential economic impact of extending fishing access to British waters for EU vessels for a further 12 years on coastal communities.

The new UK-EU fisheries agreement announced on 19 May will continue the current access arrangements in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, under which the UK grants access to around 1,600 EU registered vessels to fish in UK waters, of which 154 vessels have access to parts of the 6-12 nautical mile zone in England and Wales in 2025. A list of EU vessels with access to UK waters is published by the UK Single Issuing Authority.

We are committed to the long-term sustainability and prosperity of the UK fleet and will continue to work closely with the fishing industry and coastal communities to understand their concerns and the impacts of the fishing arrangements announced in the UK-EU summit. We are also launching the Fishing & Coastal Growth Fund investing £360 million over the next 12 years to support the next generation of fishermen and our coastal communities.