Cornwall’s fishermen are fighting to see the Labor light

Richard Chapman mends his nets in a bleak harbor in Looe and wonders if his new MP will bring Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer the “sunshine of hope”.

South East Cornwall’s long-serving Tory MP Sheryll Murray has been ousted by Labor MP Anna Gelderd – first constituency.

The clouds are breaking, but Mr Chapman barely looks up from his task as he reflects on an industry he believes has been overlooked.

“I voted Conservative, it seemed like the lesser of two evils. I have no idea what Labour’s policy is on fisheries, but every government so far has been disappointed,” he says.

“Look around the harbour, it’s dying,” adds Mr Chapman.

“When I started at the school there were 50 boats – crab nets, handline mackerel boats, trawlers.

“There are only six trawlers left.

“I liked to think that my children, who are six and 10, would want to join the industry. I don’t want that for them now.”

He cites “red tape and paperwork” – “exacerbated by Brexit”.

These include catch quotas, the introduction of a mandatory catch app to record catches before they are landed, new vessel monitoring systems and inspections.

Labor has said it will sign veterinary agreements to reduce the need for export documents.

He also said it would help restore trade.

“I’m always hopeful, but I don’t know if it’s realistic,” Mr Chapman says.

“We are such a small part of the country’s GDP that we are always overlooked for industries that are worth much more revenue to the government.

“I would tell the new MP to look out for the little man – the independent fishermen.”

As the rain stops and the seagulls dive, Dave Bond makes his way through a throng of tourists and down a ladder to his trawler Mystique II.

Mr Bond, chairman of Looe Harbor commissioners, knew him well and his loyalty extended to a Tory vote on Thursday night.

“I had a personal connection with Sheryll Murray … she always went above and beyond for fishing,” says Mr Bond.

“As much as I feel the country is in a mess, I think it’s going to be in a mess no matter how you vote… better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”

He said he met new MP Anna Gelderd and she seemed “passionate” about south east Cornwall.

“The restrictions, the rules, the quotas, they all let the industry down a lot.

“I don’t know if a change of party will solve this problem.”

Jane Hall lives in the village of Downderry, five miles from Looe, but is visiting for the day.

Despite this, she still voted for the Tory MP and said she was “sad to lose her” – but hoped Labor would “shake things up”.

Trawler Mike Pengelly sits on a bench in the harbor with his family.

He started fishing in Looe in 1967 and his father and grandfather were fishermen before him.

A former Tory voter, Mr Pengelly opted for the reform because he felt it was “time for a change” after the previous MP failed to “do them justice”.

“Everything the Tories promised us never materialised, and since we left the common market we thought we’d get a better deal, but we haven’t,” he says.

In his victory speech, Sir Starmer promised to “rebuild Britain with wealth created in every community”.

“I don’t have much hope in this industry, nobody is on our side,” says Mr Pengelly.

“It’s not an even playing field.

“I’m glad I’m getting to an age where I can retire because I don’t see a great future.

“My sons have joined me and I can’t see a big future for them and I don’t think I can.”

Just down in Looe town centre, 18-year-old Bix Simm-Smith works in a gift shop, one of her three jobs in the tourism industry.

“I woke up this morning and thought ‘yes,'” she says.

“Almost my whole life growing up, I was told that my future would be abysmal – I would have no money, I would work all my life.

“I think Labor has a better ideology and it makes me feel more reassured about what’s going to happen.”

She says it gives her hope for an end to “overfishing” and a push for animal rights.

Sam Chapman sits over today’s catch at Pengelly’s Fishmongers.

He says he believes the Tories “haven’t brought much” to Looe or the fishing industry over the past four years, but he voted to keep the MP because he was “raised to vote Tory”.

He calls for Labor to “pay attention to the city” and “talk to the fishing town as a whole” about what needs to be done.

He calls for a “rethink” of quotas and limits, adding: “As bad as the public thinks the fishing industry is, it’s actually much worse.

“You just don’t know if there will be a fishing industry here in 20 years.

“New blood is needed, but at the moment why would young people enter the industry?”

Does he hope that new MP Anna Gelderd will bring about this much-desired change?

“We’ll see,” he says, “we’ll see.”