Yahoo Finance Boris Johnson urged to appoint 'fish and chip tsar' to boost sales after Brexit
Ministers should appoint a “fish and chips tsar” to promote the consumption of the UK catch in post-Brexit Britain, according to the Bishop of St Albans.
The Rt Rev Alan Smith raised the suggestion in the Lords yesterday as a solution to the disruption of fish exports since the end of the transition period.
"What's the Government doing to increase fish consumption in the domestic market?" he asked.
"Do we need a fish and chips tsar to encourage people to eat fish?"
Lord Gardiner of Kimble, an environment, food and rural affairs minister, said the Government was working on a "love seafood campaign" to encourage domestic consumption of "excellent fish that hitherto we have perhaps not consumed".
Polling by YouGov shows that fish and chips is already the second most popular British meal in the UK, after chips alone.
The Scottish Government previously warned that the amount of cod UK fishermen can catch in the North Sea will fall to 57 per cent from 64 per cent under the teams of the Brexit deal.
Labour's Lord McConnell yesterday said the "world class" Scottish seafood industry had been let down by "political polarisation" between the Scottish Government and the UK Government and urged ministers to learn lessons from the "disaster".
Baroness Lawrence, another Labour peer, said the UK had not taken back control of its fishing waters “to the extent that fishermen thought we would”.
Lord Gardiner, the minister, said there had been an “overall improvement in the situation“ but that “more work needs to be done."
He added that there was strong collaboration on fishing with all the devolved administrations and pledged that it would continue.
