The UK fishing industry could be confined to the "annals of history" if concessions are made to the EU, Brexiteer MPs have warned, as Michael Gove insisted the Prime Minister's red lines "have been defended".

The Environment Secretary faced sustained questions from his own backbenches during the second reading debate of the Fisheries Bill, with MPs asking for assurances that changes made in the legislation cannot be traded away in the Brexit talks.

Mr Gove said: "We were told at different times that we would have to bend or buckle when it came to fisheries, the Prime Minister and the negotiating team have absolutely not."

Tory former minister Mark Francois said he found it "difficult to take seriously the commitments that the Prime Minister now gives to this House".

He told the Commons: "The Prime Minister has told the House on numerous occasions that we would leave the customs union and yet the withdrawal agreement envisages very clearly that we would remain in the customs union under the backstop and that having entered we couldn't leave unless the EU consented, the so-called Hotel California arrangement.

"The Prime Minister also assured the House in very strong terms that she would never contemplate a border down the Irish Sea and yet in the agreement including the Northern Ireland protocol exactly that is envisaged.

"I regret to say, given that, I find it difficult to take seriously the commitments that the Prime Minister now gives to this House. If I have trouble believing her why should I believe him?"

Mr Gove said there was a "widespread recognition" that the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) did damage, adding: "Whatever position we may have taken in that referendum, taking back control of our waters, leaving the CFP and becoming once again an independent coastal state gives us an opportunity to lead environmentally, to revive the fishing industry economically and to make sure that our coastal communities once more have the opportunity of a renaissance."

Later in the debate, Conservative Maria Caulfield (Lewes) warned: "These changes in this Bill cannot be negotiated away as part of the Withdrawal Act or future trading relationship arrangements.

"Failure to secure what's in this Bill will confine the UK fishing industry to the annals of history."

Former international development secretary Priti Patel also raised concerns that the UK fishing industry would be "traded away" in Theresa May's negotiations about the future relationship with the EU.

Tory Ms Patel said: "I do want to reiterate concerns that despite this legislation we may be vulnerable not to taking back the full control that we expect and our fishing communities across the United Kingdom expect too and share the fears that come the negotiations on the future relationship that our fisheries will once again be traded away."

She added: "It would be travesty if after December 2020 the EU remained in control of our fisheries, under no circumstances should our rights for control of our fisheries be negotiated away."

Conservative Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) asked Mr Gove for assurances that "under no circumstances will further concessions be granted", saying: "He will know that the industry have long memories and they can remember the last minute sell-out in the original common market negotiations, and they still fear that that is going to happen again."

Mr Gove told him: "There's no way I can ever forget what happened then, and no way that I will be anything other than a resolute champion to the interests of coastal communities like the one that he serves and represents so admirably."

Tory Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall) also warned against a "complete repeat" of 1971, adding: "At the last minute the UK Government caved in and allowed equal access to a common resource."

DUP MP Ian Paisley, in his first Commons chamber speech since being suspended for failing to declare holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government, called on ministers to take the UK out of the CFP "totally and completely".

The North Antrim MP added: "The people of this United Kingdom took a decision, it's time to leave and I hope that this piece of legislation honours that decision by over 17 million that we're going to leave the EU and leave it properly."

Conservative MP Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) urged MPs to "take seriously the reaction from across the Channel", where he said French, Spanish, Danish, Belgian and Portuguese fishermen were all unhappy with Mrs May's deal and wanted a more level playing field.

He said: "France is leading a charge to guarantee there should be a fisheries agreement giving French and other European fishing fleets access to British waters.

"I think everyone would agree this is completely unacceptable and the Prime Minister has so far been robust in opposing this from day one and I think she needs the support of everyone in this House to continue to do so.

"We are not pulling up the drawbridge or building some imaginary sea wall down the North Sea - we will continue to work with our European neighbours, it's just we will be negotiating with them as an independent coastal state in the same way Norway and Iceland do now."

Mr Gove felt compelled to intervene when Conservative MP Douglas Ross (Moray) came under repeated fire from the SNP's Angus MacNeil.

Mr Gove said: "Is it not an unerring truth in this House that anyone who speaks the truth gets barracked by the SNP because they are not interested in debate, they're not interested in fisheries, they're not interested in answering the questions he has put forward.

"They are only interested in a separatist circus that threatens the jobs and livelihoods of the people they fail to represent."

The Bill was passed at second reading without a division and will undergo further scrutiny at a later date.