PRIME MINISTER Sir Keir Starmer’s deal to trade 12 years of access to British fishing grounds for access to EU weapons contracts provides “certainty and stability” for fishermen, Labour’s Secretary of State for Scotland insisted today.

Comparing the Prime Minister with Tory predecessors Edward Heath and Boris Johnson, the Scottish Fishermen’s Union has slammed the UK-EU trade agreement as a “horror show."

But speaking on BBC Radio Scotland, Scottish Labour Secretary Ian Murray said: “I don’t agree with that.

“It gives 12 years of certainty and stability for the industry, it doesn’t change any of the deal that was put in place in 2019, which is 25 per cent more quotas for UK and Scottish trawlers and it gives wide access, of course to the new markets of the EU, in terms of pushing away all that red tape.

“I’ve been in business before and I would prefer 12 years of stability and security and certainty than an annual renegotiation that you may or may not win.”

Speaking on the same programme, SNP External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson bemoaned the lack of consultation with the devolved administration. 

He said: “There were meetings with Nick Thomas-Symonds [paymaster general] who gave a readout: ‘Here’s where we have got to,’ not: ‘What do you think about things? Do you agree to things? Would you seek changes to things’?”

Referring to First Minister John Swinney’s lurch from declaring “Scotland’s best future lies as an independent country within the European Union,” to opposing EU fishing boats entering Scottish waters in the space of 24 hours, Mr Murray said the Scottish government “have tied themselves in knots to set themselves against this deal,” which he insisted was “good for business.”