The conference also committed itself yesterday to a call for a referendum on European reform in the wake of the latest treaty deal struck by Gordon Brown. Aides later made clear that the SNP stance would now be hostile, given the loss of fishing as a red line issue.
The motion stated: "Conference deplores that, despite the concerns of the Scottish fishing communities and the Scottish Government, the UK Government has refused to seek changes to the treaty text in relation to the competence over fisheries."
If Westminster faces any vote on the issue of allowing a referendum then SNP MPs will be committed to backing the principle of a referendum, but it was being stressed last night that without a change of policy on the fishing question the stance would be to oppose the new EU treaty.
In 2006, the Scottish fishing industry generated catches to the value of only £370 million and provided employment for 5,205 people (or 0.2% of the Scottish labour force); figures sourced from here. That such an economically insignificant industry should be permitted to determine national policy on the EU suggests that the SNP is either being altruistically faithful to its constituency roots or that it is living in cloud-cuckoo land.
1 comment:
You fail to take into account the signficant wider impact of the industry in their individual communities. The young people of Peterhead and Fraserburgh are taking copious amounts of heroin for a reason. Or perhaps we should abandon these communities because (compared to, say, Glasgow and Edinburgh) their populations are of insignificant size or contribution to the economy?
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