THERESA MAY’S proposed Brexit deal risks a “very damaging” impact on Scotland’s fisheries, SNP ministers have warned.

Scottish Fisheries Secretary Fergus Ewing has written to Westminster condemning its failure to ensure tariff-free access to the European market for Scottish seafood exports.

He said the “explicit linkage of trade and access to UK waters” was “in direct contradiction to what was promised in the British government’s white paper on fisheries.”

This link will “allow for exclusion of fisheries and aquaculture from tariff-free access” in a temporary customs union.

Mr Ewing argued: “At a time when we should be actively encouraging investment in Scotland’s economy, the UK government has elected to go down a path that only sows the seeds of doubt and confusion.

“The Withdrawal Agreement has the potential to set one vital Scottish sector against another and shows a complete disregard for these key Scottish interests.”