THE power struggle between Westminster and Holyrood took to the seas last night after a row broke out over fishing policies.
UK Labour ministers accused their Nationalist counterparts of trying to withdraw unilaterally from the European Common Fisheries Policy.
They have questioned the legality of the Scottish Government's moves contained in a consultation launched yes
terday by Richard Lochhead, the rural affairs secretary, and have said it will undermine Britain's negotiating power in the EU.
They are also seething over the lack of time given to look at the consultation before it was launched.
But the SNP's Mr Lochhead has said he is simply trying to do his best for the Scottish fishing industry and pointed out that the row is only over a consultation document, which has had positive feedback from the fishing industry.
The consultation is looking at how to safeguard Scottish fishing quotas, make licensing more user-friendly and encourage new blood into the fishing industry.
But Jim Murphy, the UK Government's Europe minister, said: "This is yet another example of the Scottish Executive trying to pick and choose the elements of the devolved settlement it adheres to according to political expediency rather than fact."
The UK fisheries minister, Jonathan Shaw, added: "We question whether this would stand up to legal scrutiny. It creates additional risk and uncertainty for fishermen already under pressure."
But an aide to Mr Lochhead said that the SNP was astonished that the UK Government wanted to pick a fight on this issue.
"We are simply looking at the best way forward for our fishermen and to be fair the fishing industry in Scotland is right behind us," he said. "Of course we believe that industry would be better served by an independent Scotland, but by choosing to fight us on a consultation, the UK Government has just shown how out of touch it is."
The Scottish Government hopes one benefit of the new system for managing its fishing quota would be to clamp down on so called "slipper skippers".
These are non-active, often retired fishermen who still have a quota allocation, which some lease out in return for a profit. About 7 per cent of the North Sea fishing quota lies in the control of slipper skippers.
Iain MacSween, the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Organisation, said: "It's absurd that former fishermen and, in some cases not even former fishermen, can make a better living renting out quotas to active fishermen than fishermen can make by catching fish."
Under the proposed system, quota-holders who are not active would have to relinquish them to active fishermen within six months. Any organisations outside Scotland that got hold of Scottish quotas would also be asked to show economic benefit to Scotland.
ANALYSISTHIS latest clash between Westminster and Holyrood represents a new twist in the almost weekly conflicts.
Frequently, it is SNP ministers trying to pick fights with their UK counterparts as in the case of lottery money going to the London Olympics and possible return of the Lockerbie bomber to Libya.
In this instance, UK ministers have shown that they, too, are willing to pick a fight with the Nationalists on a favourite SNP topic – fishing.
The full article contains 544 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
