π βSold down the riverβ
Cornish fishermen who overwhelmingly backed Brexit now say they were betrayed.
Promised by Farage theyβd get full control of UK waters and an end to foreign trawlers!
Instead they got continued EU access until 2038, damaged gear from French/Belgian vessels, higher export costs, and broken promises.
Fishing was used as emotional bait by Farage and Leave campaigners. The industry is still paying the price.
Brexitβs betrayal of its biggest symbolic supporters continues.
π¨ A decade on from the vote to leave the EU, many in the fishing community say their industry was betrayed after promises - made by Nigel Farage and Vote Leave team - that Britain would regain control of its waters.
βWe feel betrayed, because we were convinced, promised, we were going to get these basic points β with the failure to uphold a limit on foreign vessels fishing with 12 nautical miles from the UK coast being the biggest let-down,β says fisherman Anthony Hoskin, at Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall.
βWe were told there would be no French and Belgian ships towing away our gear, and itβd make our lives easier,β he says. βI wasnβt going to be left unable to sleep knowing my thousands of poundsβ worth of rope and pots could be gone.
βWe were even going to have control of our quotas, no dictating from Brussels. But we were sold down the river, simple as that.β