Philip Hammond risks Brexiteers’ wrath as he offers EU trawlers access to UK waters ‘for a good City deal’
A source close to the Environment Secretary Michael Gove said giving access to EU boats to our fish would be 'totally unacceptable and goes against the result of the referendum'
Philip Hammond last night sparked Brexiteer fury after dangling access to UK fishing waters for EU trawlers in return for a good trade deal that protects the City of London.
Exploding his long running row with Environment Secretary Michael Gove, the Chancellor said he was “open to discussing” a fishing deal as he warned Brussels they rely on Britain's powerhouse financial services sector.
The pair have clashed at meetings of the Brexit war cabinet over putting Britain’s fishing waters on the Brexit negotiating table.
Mr Hammond's signal came after the seventh of the Cabinet’s “Road to Brexit” speeches where he demanded a future deal for Britain's banking sector.
The Chancellor warned Brussels a new ‘Iron Curtain of regulation’ would hit the whole European economy.
Invoking memories of the Berlin Wall, he said: “Modern Europe is, quite literally, testament to the benefits of tearing down walls.
“Let us not now propose new barriers where there need be none”, he added.
Addressing HSBC bankers, he said the booming City of London was a "European asset" but one British taxpayers bared the risks for while the whole continent benefited.
Warning against punishing the City over Brexit, the Chancellor added: "This is not a zero-sum game where any loss of market share in London is automatically a gain to another EU capital."
Mr Hammond noted Brussels' pleas to continue fishing British waters after Brexit.
And he added “of course we would be open to discussing with our EU partners about the appropriate arrangements for reciprocal access for our fishermen to EU waters and for EU fishermen to our waters.
"We would have to negotiate the basis on which such an arrangement could be fair and appropriate for us."
His comment came just days after leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg warned: “The fishing community should not be used as an easy negotiating offer.”
Last night the Fishing for Leave group accused Mr Hammond of “testing the water to see if they can get away with selling out coastal communities."
Boss Alan Hasting hit out: “For an EU that’s keen to avoid ‘cherry picking’ they are after the sweetest of them all – to continue pillaging £3-4 billion pounds of fish from our rich resources that were sacrificed to the EU to join.”
But Brussels insisted that a trade deal with the UK will be conditional on EU fishermen securing ongoing access to our waters.
One official told The Sun: "I find it very difficult to imagine there would be an agreement on that without also an agreement on mutual access to fishing waters, that’s a political reality."
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But Mr Hammond’s position was boosted by leading French businessman Pascal Lamy - who was the head of the World Trade Organisation - conceding that the EU and London should attempt to hammer out a deal on services.
He told the BBC “they should try” but warned that “whenever they get somewhere, this will be much less stable than what we have at present” as Brexit was like “trying to remove an egg from an omelette.”
Last night a source close to the Environment Secretary said: “Michael has been clear that we need to take back control of our waters, the suggestion of the same access in future is totally unacceptable and goes against the result of the referendum.”
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