A Westminster Hall debate was scheduled for 4.30pm on 1 July 2026 on government support for the fishing industry. The debate was opened by Seamus Logan MP.
The UK-EU summit that took place on 19 May 2025 aimed at resetting relations between the two parties. As part of the agreement reach, mutual access to each other’s fishing waters was extended beyond 2026, when it was due to end, for a further 12 years. At the same time the agreement was reached the government announced that it would be creating a £360 million UK wide Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund to fund investment in new technology and equipment, training and skills, and promote seafood exports.
UK-EU mutual access
The 2020 UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) (PDF) extended to fisheries and provided mutual access for UK and EU fishing vessels in each other’s waters until June 2026. The agreement also set out provisions for negotiations on access and share of stocks after that date. These could take the form of annual or multiannual agreements on fishing.
Under the TCA, 25% of the overall pre-Brexit EU fishing quota in UK waters will have been transferred to the UK over a five-and-a-half-year transition period, ending on 30 June 2026. Mutual access for vessels to each other’s waters was also agreed under the TCA and is managed through a licensing system for individual fishing vessels.
At their joint summit in May 2025, the UK and EU agreed commitments to strengthen cooperation across a range of policy areas.
The UK-EU summit explainer from the government notes that the UK agreed to maintain existing levels of EU access to its waters for a further 12 years until 30 June 2038. The 25% catch transfer to the UK will remain and is unaffected by the agreement.
Fisheries and coastal growth fund
The government provided further details of the £360 million Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund in October 2025. The fund will be allocated to the devolved executives would decide how it would be spent, following discussions at the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in June 2025. The press release announcing the allocation said that “the UK government will work in close partnership with the devolved governments to ensure the funding supports both local needs and UK-wide ambitions for a thriving, sustainable fishing industry.” The funding will be allocated on the basis of the Barnett formula. Of the £360 million, £28 million would be allocated to Scotland, £18 million to Wales, and £10 million to Northern Ireland, with the remainder allocated to England.
Following the announcement, the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, wrote to the UK Government calling the funding allocation for Scotland “wholly unacceptable”. This was because “the Scottish fishing sector accounts for over 60% of the UK’s fishing capacity and over 60% of UK seafood exports”. She also raised concern that as funding would be spread over 12 years, it would equate to only £2.3 million per year for Scotland. Despite continued to be raised into 2026, the position on funding allocation has not been changed by the government.
The November 2025 Budget set out that £165 million would be allocated to the fund between 2026-27 and 2030-31. The response from the NFFO, as reported in Fishing News, was that while the limited frontloading of the spending was welcome it was not enough:
We have been very clear in our discussions with government that the fund will be most impactful if it is front-loaded and allows grants to be spread across multiple years. This will allow a more strategic approach to spending the fund, with projects that will bring lasting benefits, not just immediate but temporary results. An extra 10% over the first five years is hardly what we had in mind, and no one can seriously have thought that it was.
It also raised concerns that the funding could not be guaranteed beyond the end of the current Parliament.
Resetting the relationship with fishing communities
The Environment Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee carried at an inquiry on Resetting the relationship with fishing communities, and published its report on 24 April 2026.
The Committee set out some of its concerns about the challenges facing fishing communities:
Fishing remains central to the identity, economy and social fabric of many coastal towns and villages, yet communities continue to face long-standing challenges including inadequate port infrastructure, fragile skills and training pathways, and limited targeted support for active fishing communities.
The report set out a number of areas that needed to be addressed by the government. It also welcomed the announcement of the Fish and Coastal Growth Fund but raised concerns about funding allocation through the Barnett formula and the timelines involved:
The allocation of the Fisheries and Coastal Growth Fund through the Barnett formula is inconsistent with model preferred by industry stakeholders in all parts of the United Kingdom. We are concerned that it does not reflect the relative scale, distribution or needs of the fishing industry across the UK. In the absence of any proper explanation by the government of why the total sum that has been allocated to the fund was chosen, or for the duration of the scheme itself, it is impossible for anyone to have confidence that there is political or fiscal integrity in the thinking behind the scheme.
In other areas the Committee expressed concerns about poor communication around regulatory changes for the fishing industry and a lack of transparency in enforcement. It also highlighted what it concluded where mounting competition for marine spaces, calling for a comprehensive UK wide “Sea Use Framework”
Research Briefing
Published Tuesday, 30 June, 2026
