A Lowestoft campaigner who has urged the UK to take back control of its fishing industry is set to contest the European elections as part of Nigel Farage's Brexit Party.

Eastern Daily Press: June Mummery has campaigned for the fishing industry for a number of years. Picture: Mick HowesJune Mummery has campaigned for the fishing industry for a number of years. Picture: Mick Howes (Image: Archant)

June Mummery, of Lowestoft Fish Market Alliance (LFMA) and BFP Eastern, was unveiled as candidate alongside former Leave.EU co-chair Richard Tice, entrepreneur Ben Habib, academic Alka Sehgal Cuthburt and journalist Annunziata Rees-Mogg.

The group are the first to be announced by the party ahead of the European elections on May 23, which the UK will take part in unless Prime Minister Theresa May gets a Brexit deal passed through Parliament beforehand.

Mrs Mummery, who has been described as a veteran Brexiteer by the Brexit Party, has previously campaigned for more control over UK waters and has been one of the leading figures in the 'renaissance' of East Anglian fishing.

In 2017, she hailed the news that the government was withdrawing the UK from the London Fisheries Convention, signed in 1964, which allowed vessels from foreign countries to fish within six miles of the UK coastline.

She has also successfully campaigned for a ban on electric pulse fishing in the UK, which will come into force after Brexit, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced in February. The news followed a three-year campaign amid fears of a decrease in sea life.

She has previously said: 'Brexit is a golden opportunity to rejuvenate dependent coastal towns and benefit the nation as a whole.

'Lowestoft will be the hub for the renaissance of East Anglian fishing.

'We could create huge wealth in our area and it will happen if the government gets behind it.

'It's estimated that every job at sea is worth 10 on land. At the moment we have 14 boats selling into the market here and overall there are about 500 people making a living from fish in the town. If Brexit goes our way, I believe the workforce will double in the next 10-15 years.'

Held every five years, the European Parliament elections usually see the UK contest dozens of seats, making up 73 of the current 751 MEP seats.

In 2014, the UK spent £109m on the elections, from securing polling stations and mailing out candidate information and polling cards.