Victoria Atkins MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, visited the Isle of Wight today (Monday) to engage with local fishermen and farmers regarding ongoing challenges in their industries.
Accompanied by East Wight MP Joe Robertson, Atkins met with fishermen in Ventnor to discuss the implications of the upcoming 2026 review of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA).
She emphasised the importance of not conceding further fishing rights in future negotiations, stating that the initial TCA was intended as a stepping stone toward improved terms for the UK’s fishing industry.
Speaking to Island Echo, Victoria Atkins said:
“We want to ensure that whatever the discussions are that they’re having with the EU, that they certainly do not go backwards on fishing and we want them to make improvements.
“We know that we weren’t able to achieve everything the fishing community wanted under the original TCA, but that first deal was meant to be a stepping stone to negotiate improvements.
“We’ll be holding the Prime Minister and the Trade Secretary to account to ensure policies like increasing protection to 12 nautical miles are pursued.
Article continues below this advertisement “My biggest concern is that the Prime Minister was played during the US negotiations, and we’re worried fishing rights could now be used as a bargaining chip in unrelated talks, such as defence cooperation with France. None of this should be on the table.
“The TCA 2026 review is the opportunity not just to protect, but to go further than we were able to before, and we expect the government to deliver on that.”
Local fisherman Ed Blake highlighted the decline in the number of full-time fishing boats on the Isle of Wight, noting that his family’s operation is 1 of only 6 remaining.
He expressed concerns about the financial barriers for new entrants and the complexities of navigating regulations from multiple governing bodies.
Ed told Island Echo:
“Our biggest concern is the next generation. When we first started the fishery in 2007, we used to land off about 20 boats around the island. They’re not there anymore. Now there are only six full-time boats, two of which are ours.
“We’re the only two that employ crew full-time. The rest are single-handed, ad hoc, or family-run. Economies of scale matter – sending a van to market costs the same whether it’s full or empty, and we just don’t have the numbers to make it viable.
“It’s also financially impossible to start from scratch. You’d need around half a million pounds to set up a new boat and business. That’s a huge barrier.
“We’re also overwhelmed by red tape. There are 13 different governing bodies, each with their own rules. It’s death by a thousand cuts. The regulations don’t align and are stopping us from modernising.”
Following the meeting in Ventnor, Victoria and Joe hosted a roundtable discussion with local farmers at New Farm at Nunwell, near Brading. The conversation addressed recent policy changes affecting the agricultural sector, including the closure of new applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme and proposed inheritance tax reforms.
Farmers expressed concerns about the financial impact of these changes, particularly the potential 20% inheritance tax on farms valued over £1million, set to take effect in April 2026. They warned that such measures could threaten the viability of family-run farms and the future of British agriculture.
Atkins reaffirmed her commitment to holding the government accountable for policies that affect rural communities, emphasising the need for sustainable support for both the fishing and farming industries on the Isle of Wight.
I popped to Ventnor today and saw Joe and Victoria
along Ventnor seafront by the bandstand.
My thoughts were did they see the Numpty uneducated
scaffolders working along Victoria Street Ventnor
throwing scaffolding clamps up to the Numpty’s working
above, none of the Numpty’s were wearing hard hats and
if the Numpty’s dropped the clamps they could have injured
passers by and the Numpty who was throwing the clamps.
Is everything on the island run like S H I T!
so many cowboy companies are allowed to trade.
“We’ll be holding the Prime Minister and the Trade Secretary to account to ensure policies like increasing protection to 12 nautical miles are pursued.
My biggest concern is that the Prime Minister was played during the US negotiations, and we’re worried fishing rights could now be used as a bargaining chip in unrelated talks, such as defence cooperation with France. None of this should be on the table.”
What did the US negotiations have to do with fishing. I don’t think American trawlers are fishing our waters, are they? Ms Atkins is dangerously stupid.
She was simply making the point (rightly or wrongly) that Starmer gave too much away in securing the US trade deal.
I would have thought that much was obvious.