Fishing Industry: Government Support

Lara Bird Excerpts

Wednesday 1st July 2026 Westminster Hall

[Lara Bird (Arbroath and Broughty Ferry) (SNP)]

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) is a tough act to follow, as always. Thank you, Sir Alec, for chairing this debate; I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) for securing it.

Many Members across the House have spoken out in support of the fishing industry, particularly in Scotland—I know that because I followed the issue closely before I came to this House—but I must pay tribute specifically to my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East for being such a consistent champion and for ensuring that the difficulties and challenges that fishermen and women face in Scotland, in his constituency and mine, continue to be raised in this place.

My coastal constituency of Arbroath and Broughty Ferry has a proud fishing history, as do the constituencies of many Members in this Chamber. In its heyday, it was one of Scotland’s busiest fishing ports, with 40 boats landing white fish and shellfish in the late 19th century. Overfishing led to fishing quotas, however, and from the 1970s that led to a steep decline. That has had an impact on the town of Arbroath: not just on the fishermen and women and their families, but deeper into the economy, the businesses and the surrounding industries that rely on fishermen and women. That is something that we are still really feeling today in Arbroath: the last boat to catch haddock or cod, which was once the town’s prize catch, stopped sailing in 2013, so most of the famous Arbroath smokies are now made with haddock landed 90 miles north in Peterhead.

This is a theme that many of my constituents have raised with me—not just those who do the fishing themselves, but other businesses that rely on the fishers in Arbroath. As well as being a core fishing industry in Arbroath, we are also a deeply proud fish and chip community. The impact on that industry and the hospitality industry of the lack of UK Government support for the fishing industry is deeply felt in my constituency. In this debate, I want to briefly address that side of the impact on the fishing industry in Scotland, because we cannot separate the experiences of the fishing sector from the experiences of the hospitality sector. In my constituency, they are one and the same.

I feel compelled to say, in my second debate today, that I am proud that Arbroath has what I believe to be the best fish and chips in Scotland and therefore the world, but the experiences of my constituents who are trying to run viable businesses that rely on the fishing industry have been very challenging. Even in the past week since being elected to this place, I have had so many emails and letters from people in my constituency who rely on the fishing industry and who say that they are absolutely at a loss. They are so concerned about what was once a proud industry in Arbroath and its future, not least because of the lack of support that they feel is coming from this Labour Government.

[Douglas Lumsden]

I asked the hon. Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East (Seamus Logan) whether the SNP policy is still to rejoin the EU and rejoin the hated common fisheries policy. He failed to answer that question. Could the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Lara Bird) try to answer it?

[Lara Bird]

As the hon. Member is undoubtedly aware, my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East is not able to speak on behalf of the Scottish Government, and neither am I. But the hon. Member will be aware that our policy is very much to rejoin the EU, and that rejoining the EU will mean support for the fishing industry that is currently unavailable because of the Conservatives’ policy of pulling out of it. One thing my constituents have raised to me is that they face challenges with exports and support for their industry that would not be felt if it were not for the damaging consequences of Brexit. I am sure that it comes as no surprise to the hon. Member to hear me say that.

I will continue by explaining the recent experience of one of the businesses in my constituency. The Bellrock is famous for its fish, not just in Arbroath and Broughty Ferry but across Scotland: folk come from all over to experience its fish suppers. The fish it uses used to be caught just off the coast of Arbroath, but the owner of the Bellrock told me recently that the price of the fresh fish they buy has increased by over 30%. That is mainly due to higher fuel costs—another matter that the current UK Labour Government are unwilling and unable to address and which is having detrimental impacts on the fishing industry. It is also due to fewer boats going out, as it is no longer commercially viable to do so, largely because there are no incentives or support for smaller members of the fishing industry, which used to be so profitable. The Bellrock is also paying the same price, or more, for smaller fish than it used to receive. Because of the inconsistent price and size of fish, many of the fish shops in my constituency are turning to frozen-at-sea fish, which is generally supplied by larger companies using fish from overseas. That reduces the reliance on local producers and processors.

[Jim Shannon]

I commend the hon. Lady, who has brought a matter to my mind and probably to the mind of the Minister and others. We have just seen a record price for a cod supper—I think the paper this week said that it was £11.51. I go back further than most Members, but I can remember when £11.50 would have bought a fish supper for four people or more. It really does put pressure on the hospitality sector.

[Lara Bird]

I thank the hon. Member for that point, which highlights how deeply the issue is being felt across many different industries, not just among those who are going out and catching the fish.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeenshire North and Moray East mentioned in his opening remarks, the pitiful and arguably insulting allocation of funds from the UK Government to support fishermen and women in Scotland not only fails to reflect their contribution to the fishing sector, but fails to hold up other businesses and industries that rely on it. That is just an example—the tax on jobs is another—of the destructive Labour policies that mean that businesses in my constituency are really struggling.

A historic, integral fishing industry on an island nation cannot be allowed to struggle and decline while the UK Government sit back and do nothing. From my experience of speaking to my constituents, it is not about a lack of will or demand for fish in Scotland. As my hon. Friend outlined, the situation we are in is purely about the lack of engagement from the UK Government to experience what is happening to the fishing industry in Scotland and provide adequate policies to support it.

[Sir Alec Shelbrooke (in the Chair)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesman.