Starmer urged to ‘stand up to EU threats’ as Brexit ‘empowered’ UK to move away from ‘destructive’ bottom trawlers

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to "stand up to the EU’s threats" and ban bottom trawling in a bid to make the most of the UK’s newfound Brexit freedoms.

The Prime Minister, who is hoping to reset relations with the Brussels bloc, faced renewed pressure to protect Britain’s fishing industry and marine protected areas today.

Pressure was mounted on Starmer after the European Commission threatened to take legal action against the UK over its decision to introduce biodiversity protection measures earlier this year.

The continental club was particularly aggrieved on behalf of its Danish fishermen after the UK shut down industrial sand eel fishing on environmental grounds.

In a fresh call for Starmer to stand up to the EU, Conservative Environment Network’s deputy director John Flesher told GB News: "Brexit has empowered us to decide what happens in British waters.

"The Conservative Government rightly stopped bottom trawling in some marine protected areas (MPAs) and outright banned sand eel fishing in the North Sea.

"Taken together, these steps will protect the seabed and allow Britain’s native fish and bird populations to recover after years of damaging practices, largely by EU vessels.

"Recovering fish stocks will be good for British fishermen too, as numbers increase in the waters around protected areas.

"In threatening to take the UK to court for these measures, the EU is failing to respect our authority over our own waters.

"The EU talks a good talk on marine protection, but in challenging these steps it is arguing for bottom trawlers to destroy the seabed and release huge amounts of carbon emissions, and to keep overfishing sand eels, which are a critical food source for our nation’s puffins and kittiwakes."

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