They can huff and they can puff but....

Apparently Brexit will mean Britain doesn't get the fishing grounds back:

The hopes of British fishermen that the UK can win its “waters back” after Brexit are expected to be dashed by the European parliament, despite the campaign promises of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, a leaked EU document reveals.

MEPs have drafted seven provisions to be included in Britain’s “exit agreement”, including the stipulation that there will be “no increase to the UK’s share of fishing opportunities for jointly fished stocks [maintaining the existing quota distribution in UK and EU waters]”.

At which point we need to think a little about what is being said here:

But the leaked report from the European parliament’s committee on fisheries insists that the “granting of access to the EU domestic market to the UK” post-Brexit should be conditional on Britain continuing to respect the rights and obligations in the CFP.

At which point all becomes clear. This is a negotiating stance. If you want to be able to sell into our lovely market here then we've got to keep your fish. Perfectly reasonable and respectable argument to make and there's a perfectly reasonable and respectable answer too - as well as some more intemperate.

Not that it really matters because this "access" they are talking about is the same one that is being linked to freedom of movement. And since the government has already decided that that isn't going to happen then that form of access isn't something that we'll be trying to preserve.

They're huffing and puffing here about how harsh they'll be in negotiations but it's all rather wind signifying nothing instead of being about to blow the house down. We've already, for better or worse, rejected that Single Market membership or access that is conditional upon their keeping the fish.