Shannon Welcomes Portavogie Fishing Fleet Joy At EU Referendum Vote

in NI with a 56% vote to leave compared to a 60% vote to leave in North Antrim.

Strangford MP Jim Shannon
Strangford MP Jim Shannon

“To have control back in our hands is a truly exciting time and it is a damning rejection of the Prime Minister’s failure on renegotiation of our membership. The PM tried to sell a pig in a poke, and he had no regrets, no concerns over it and he has ultimately paid the price.

“The effect of the EU leave vote is particularly felt in Portavogie were the fishing sector has been strangled by EU regulations and diktats which have almost halved the size of the fleet, closed the major fish processing factory, jobs have been lost and any future in the fishing industry for those coming through is not there.

“That has all changed – the Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and French fishermen will no longer be able to fish our waters. The increase in cod in the Irish Sea will be able to help our local fishermen and will no longer be divided up by EU Bureaucrats. Quotas will be set or removed by our government and no more will fishermen here have to feel the pain of Brussels diktats.

“Look across the UK, I believe the future is now shining brighter as the shackles of Brussels have been thrown off. There will be more fish managed by our own government, more regard for those fishing and more regard for the communities that rely on fishing. The people of the UK are now in control.”