Brexit-backing British town ‘wants to keep free trade with EU’

Published on 09/11/2017 - 10:00

Does Grimsby want to have its fish and eat it?

Grimsby, a seaside town in eastern England, voted overwhelmingly to quit the European Union.

More than two-thirds of people from the area backed leaving Brussels, making it one of the most Eurosceptic regions in Britain.

But now food chiefs from the town, a key player in the UK fishing industry, have been lobbying the government to keep its free trade status with Europe.

Simon Dwyer, from Seafood Grimsby & Humber, told MPs there should be a special exemption for the region’s seafood industry, reported the Grimsby Telegraph.

Producers in the town import around 90 percent of the fish they process, making it vulnerable to the introduction of import tariffs, added the newspaper.

The revelation prompted mocking on Twitter, while Professor Brian Cox jokingly asked for an exemption for the whole of the UK.

But some believe the EU’s fishing laws led to the collapse of Grimsby’s fishing industry in the 1980s and was a key reason why 71.45 percent of voters backed quitting Brussels in the referendum last year.

Not sure this needs any comment. Fish. https://t.co/EDKRmsfd8i
— James O’Brien (@mrjamesob) November 8, 2017

Grimsby fish industry, facing labour shortages, import fees etc want exemption from Brexit. https://t.co/47Kum7diRd
— Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKennedy) November 8, 2017