Keir Starmer has given huge clue on what fishing rights he'd give away to EU

The UK commercial industry, a once proud symbol of Britishness on the high seas, is under threat as never before. Sadly, the lustre of that gem-like status has long since dulled, tarnished by an array of ineptitude and ignorance, and combinations of both over many years.

Official government policy, inadequate sustainability management, and geopolitics have all negatively impacted what should be an important part of our economic landscape are nonetheless entirely relevant points you might want to bear in mind, however.

Historical events certainly proved pivotal in what we retain of our current fishing industry. Back in the day, there were the cod wars culminating in high seas fisticuffs with Icelandic gunboats when we refused to recognize their unilaterally imposed 200-mile limit from their shores.

We were characterised as a mass gathering of "Black Pig" pirate vessels led by legions of Captain Horatio Pugwash clones plundering "their" cod stocks.

Then came the Common Market, which Ted Heath wanted to join at any cost, and that included sacrificing large chunks of our commercial fishing industry as an inducement to secure our membership. Finally, we found ourselves members of the EU, progressively surrendering sovereignty the more politically ambitious the and the became.

What was left of our commercial fishing infrastructure came under further pressure with the onset of the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The CFP set quotas for all maritime EU member states, which included, of course, the rich fishing grounds to be found around our coastline within the 12 nautical mile limit.

We became part of a constantly changing and complex jigsaw puzzle that prescribed what BRITISH and other member state fishermen could and couldn't catch in BRITISH waters.

And since this odious situation still exists albeit in modified form as set out in the EU withdrawal agreement signed before we formally departed.

Our fishing communities voted overwhelmingly to quit the EU, believing that their prospects of a revival were much better assured once "we took back control" of our borders. In practice this has failed miserably to materialize.

How, for example, can a quota of more than 80 percent for cod in the British sector of the Channel be owned by the French? and how come 70 percent of the sole quota present in British waters around Wales can be owned by Belgium? And the agreement on fisheries post Brexit makes this LEGAL right up to the shoreline. What do we have to show for it?

Answer? Sweet bleep all! The CFP was yet another financial straitjacket placed on us by the EU with the net result being further misery inflicted on our fishing communities. The consequences of all the political gerrymandering dictating fishing policy and quota limits have been especially egregious to the good people of both and who have such a noble centuries old seafaring tradition.

Added to their woes too is the explosion of second home purchases for occasional visitors and tourists in these quaint old seaside towns that has seen property prices soaring and making accommodation for local communities unaffordable. So not only is the traditional fishing industry depleted to such an extent putting thousands out of work, but there is also potentially irreversible other collateral damage too!

But that's another story for another time.

How can this Government, or the last one for that matter, countenance the deployment of EU supertrawler factory ships plundering our coastal waters by literally indiscriminately sweeping up such vast quantities of fish? The environmental damage to the maritime eco systems is especially severe when these vessels of one hundred metres or more in length engage in such wholesale seafloor carnage.

Once other great bastions of the British fishing industry of Grimsby and Hull are but a shadow of their former glory from their heyday. The loss of jobs as our seafood industry declined in the face of bad policy decisions in years past coupled with an excessively burdensome amount of EU imposed red tape in more recent times tells the sorry tale.

The maritime interests of other EU member states were prioritised over ours whilst we were still in bondage to this appalling edifice of vassalage, and post-Brexit bleep all has changed!

Labour trounced the Tories on 24 July and very much part of their agenda is the stated reset of relations with the EU, spearheaded by and . If you think spineless capitulation was perfectly illustrated with the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius located some 1300 miles away, then what do you think the might be prepared to concede in their quest for closer ties to the EU?

Fishing is very much part of this, be in no doubt! Why on earth would an independent sovereign country subscribe to a fisheries quota arrangement with another country or entity for its own maritime resources? You're absolutely right, Possums, I don't get it either.

Yet this is what transpired and what we signed up to amongst a whole host of other subservient nonsensical commitments. Both Labour and Conservative governments have let our fishing industry down, especially those communities who have always relied upon the sea to provide for their survival.

It's high time we put our people first before we worry about doing grubby deals behind closed doors with the EU. British fish for British people. That wonderful tradition of fish and chips, the envy of the civilized world as it is, is a luxury these days that vastly diminishing numbers of Brits can afford. Why? Well, have you seen the price of cod on the market? Ridiculous isn't it when foreign nations own the quotas extant in OUR waters?

We need to start thinking creatively. We need to improvise, adapt, and most importantly overcome. It would be nice if Two-Tier joined the effort to create and maintain real sustainable value in our commercial fishing industry, helping to revitalize those communities ravaged as a result of gamesmanship engaged completely outside of their control.

I'm all for Grimsby, I'm with Hull, and I'm backing all the other fishing communities the length and breadth of the UK. How about showing some bottle, Prime Minister, in getting behind an effort to put this country's fishing industry back on the map by standing up for what you know is right?