Dear John,

Shellfish sellers face losing their homes.

The government’s trade deal has destroyed fisherman’s livelihoods.

Sailors Creek Shellfish has seen 99% of its business disappear since the beginning of the year, as Britain’s third country status came into effect.

It’s not an “EU ban” as some have reported it. This is a self-inflicted consequence of leaving the single market and the customs union.

It is part of the government’s ongoing campaign to sweep customs chaos under the carpet at any cost.

Don’t let them get away with it. Even if you are convinced your MP will not change their mind, at least they won’t be able to say they weren’t informed. Send your MP our report on how to level-up the EU-UK trade deal.

Held up as a totemic industry during the negotiations, the government has quickly thrown small fishing businesses under the bus.

Dominic Raab’s ten-year perspective is of little use to Cornish Fish merchants Ocean Harvest, whose entire business model has been permanently upended. Exporting fish to the Continent has trebled in price.

Scottish salmon traders have become unviable overnight, as European businesses who remain in the world’s largest single market, easily step in to replace them.

These are not teething problems. They are exactly what leaving the EU entails, what the Brexit project was designed to do.

Send a message to your MP, and tell your them to build on the barebones trade agreement, and take action to fix Britain’s trade with Europe.

This ongoing catastrophe shows this government will put isolationist ideology before businesses. Ordinary people are losing their livelihoods as a result.

The nativist narrative has finally eaten its own tail. We may have ‘taken back control’ of our fish, but we’ve got no one to sell them to.

Best wishes,

Naomi Smith, 
CEO, Best for Britain