Brexit Bulletin: No plaice for error

Good afternoon.

This morning’s fish-flinging protest outside Parliament “surpassed robust expectations for eccentricity”, the FT noted, given that London bureaucracy prevented Jacob Rees-Mogg from boarding the protest boat, leaving Nigel Farage to step in to throw fresh haddock overboard alongside Brexiteer fishermen.

Their eye-catching protest over the Government’s agreement to keep Britain in the Common Fisheries Policy until 31 December 2020 under its transition out of the European Union was somewhat blunted by Tory whips, who successfully persuaded MPs not to chuck fish off the boat, even if they still turned up to show their support. The flinging was left to Mr Farage, the man who led Brexiteer fishermen into battle up the Thames during the referendum. The former Ukip leader told those present that fishing rights were an “acid test” of the success in Brexit negotiations. “They told us they were going to take back control in 2019. That is not happening," he warned.

<!--TAG1_E--> The protest has helped keep up the pressure on the Government over what it has agreed on fishing rights (which even cabinet Brexiteers like Michael Gove recognise is “suboptimal”), with Theresa May facing questions over it today at PMQs. She insisted that the Brexit process will give the UK a chance to “rebuild” its fishing industry, and that it has a “bright future” outside of the EU.

The Prime Minister doesn’t seem to have assuaged concerns outright, as 14 MPs, including Mr Rees-Mogg, have written her a letter warning that the "disastrous" impact of joining the European European Community "cannot be compounded by compromise". They dismissed the transition deal as “completely unacceptable” in light of what had been conceded on fishing, and warned that it would be “rejected by the House of Commons”. Whips may have managed to persuade MPs not to fling flish overboard, but given how important nailing down the transition is for the Government, those concerned threaten to do something much more dramatic.