Fishing industry needs to move on from 'hated' CFP, says Conservative candidate

TORY hopeful Andrew Sinclair has said that leaving the "hated" Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) will open up new jobs and opportunities for the UK's fishing industry.

Mr Sinclair, the Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, was speaking at a hustings in Lochinver.

"At this election only one candidate on the ballot paper is prepared to take the common-sense approach to supporting our fishing industry – and that means leaving the hated Common Fisheries Policy," he said.

"Our fishermen could not be clearer about what they want from their prospective MP. The Scottish Fishermen's Federation has laid it out in the most unequivocal of terms – leave the CFP at the earliest opportunity and enact legislation to become an independent coastal state with the UK having sole and sovereign control of our territorial waters, up to 200 nautical miles off our coast.

"The Liberal Democrats and the SNP wish to lock our fishing industry into the EU policy forever, and Labour's position, like its Brexit stance, is unconstructive ambiguity.

"Only a vote for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party will actually deliver what the fishing industry wants and needs to create new jobs and opportunities in a sector destroyed by the CFP over decades."

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