Kerry McCarthy MP, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, commenting on the Fish for Leave demonstration, said:

“Our EU membership provides access to Europe’s fishing waters worth £100 million to the UK and British fishing boats are able to land and sell their catch in any EU country.

“If we left the EU we would still want to trade with EU countries, negotiate access and quotas outside our own territory and share fishing rights for UK waters.

“Ministers already control the British quota, yet almost two thirds is now owned by just three companies. This Tory Government’s continued failure to bring forward a fairer distribution of the quota means the UK’s smaller, more sustainable fishermen are struggling to make a decent living – this is a Tory Government decision, and nothing to do with the EU.

“To protect fish stocks and the livelihoods that depend upon them, we need a European-wide collective approach. We cannot risk a return to the bad old days where fish stocks were declining so fast that there were species on the verge of extinction.

“Rather than risking the uncertainty that a vote to leave would cause, I believe the answer is to stay in the EU and fight for reform.”