How fisheries could sink a Brexit trade deal
A tiny industry is political dynamite
BILLINGSGATE MARKET in east London is busy at 5.30am. Live lobsters and crabs jostle against stalls selling mussels, alongside such exotica as swordfish and tilapia. Social distancing and masks are not in much evidence. Once the world’s biggest fish market, and still the country’s biggest inland one, Billingsgate stands for the history and romance of seafishing in Britain—an industry which, despite accounting for only 0.1% of GDP and barely 12,000 jobs, could yet scupper the chances of a Brexit deal with Brussels.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “On the menu”
Britain July 25th 2020
From the July 25th 2020 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Britain
Britain’s brokers are diversifying and becoming less British
London’s depleted stockmarket is forcing them to change
What a buzzy startup reveals about Britain’s biotech sector
Lots of clever scientists, not enough business nous
Britain’s government lacks a clear Europe policy
It should be more ambitious over getting closer to the EU
The Rachel Reeves theory of growth
The chancellor says it’s her number-one priority. We ask her what that means for Britain