Spaniards badly rattled over Factortame / CFP

When I owned a British Registered Ship (Part 1 registration) the ship's passport or Certificate of British Registry was an impressive thing; a long blue cloth cover embossed with the royal arms containing a large fold-out sheet of an obsolete size of sea-resistant high-rag thick paper - Demy, Double Post or even Elephant, perhaps - whereon were detailed the vessel and most importantly the ownership of each of the sixty-fourths into which British law divided ship ownership. I was stated, as the ship's fifth owner, to hold sixty-four sixty-fourths of her property. I could therefore wear a Red Ensign and salute our warships. In those days Johnny Foreigner wasn't allowed to own a British Registered ship.  

Then of course came the bloody EU and Factortame. This was a court case brought by some rich Spanish fishing boat owners who declared that the requirement of the 1988 Merchant Shipping Act that 75% of British registered ship owners (48/64ths) had to be of British nationality was contrary to the Treaty of Rome and that Spaniards should have the right to wholly own Red Duster ships. They won. 

This means that not only can Spanish ships fish our waters under their own quota, they can also, through buying British ships and the quota that goes with them, take our fish using British registered ships. And there are an awful lot of Spanish fishermen, trawler owners, shore-side secondaries and Spanish government tax euros currently coming from Britain's 200 mile exclusive economic zone, under both their own and our flag. The blow to their income and commerce from being excluded in two years time will be immense - if that is what happens - and Spain will scream in agony. 

Hence Gibraltar. Now I've no idea whether we can reverse Factortame in two years - Richard North is your man for that sort of knowledge - or how we'll exit the Common Fisheries Policy, but Spain is very rattled. 

There's a deal to be done, but Gib's comfort will cost us fish.

Extraordinary arrogance of deluded Brussels fools

Like a partner in an ugly divorce who just won't realise they have no say in their ex-partner's share of the split, the EU just won't leave go of the UK's assets. Proof if ever proof were needed that the rest of the EU has been doing far better out of Britain's membership than we have. We can't escape the clutches of their Federast courts for years to come, they claim. And we must pay them at least €60bn when we leave, to make up for their reduced income. Now they say they want to keep our fish. 

In a leaked document published by the Guardian, the EU makes the mistake of seeming to claim as a right that which can only be granted by the UK - access to resources within our 200 mile economic territorial waters. We will manage our own fish stocks to our best advantage - that can be anywhere from fishing 100% ourselves to licensing others to fish it. And we may use that power to negotiate licenses directly with the nations involved, including Denmark and Holland, rather than with the EU. 

Of course it will take years to build our fleets up again - not only boats to be built, but men to train, skills to acquire. And the management of fish stocks to assure our future prosperity to be achieved. If there is one red line for the British people, it is regaining total and absolute control of our waters. No conditions. No restrictions. Any foreign boat that fishes in our waters after we leave must do so with our explicit consent or be seized, have its crew imprisoned and its catch forfeit. That's international marine law. 

Really, the sooner those deluded fools from Brussels realise they're dealing with a sovereign independent nation and one with warships to boot (though not nearly enough) and not some cowed Euro-Satrapy, the better.

In fact, Mrs May could send the appropriate signals by ordering now the building of ten new fisheries patrol vessels, suitably armed and equipped to carry Royal Marines boarders, and new fisheries patrol drones. The foreign aid budget is rich in resources - and fisheries patrol can be said to be a form of foreign aid.