Martyn Sutton

I became a Brexiteer while Nigel Farage was still at school and long before I was old enough to vote myself! The Conservatives took us into Europe in 1973, and on 1st January, we lost our trade deals with the Commonwealth. In December 1972, I was on one of the last British merchant ships to carry grain from Canada to London. The Canadian dockers didn’t know what would happen to them. The UK was their second-largest market, and grain was transported to the USA, their biggest customer, by train. We felt very sorry for them, but little did we know what was in store for us.

I had joined the world’s largest merchant navy, with more than 25% of global tonnage. A decade later, it was reduced to less than 15%. Shipyards closed as there were no new orders for merchant ships. UK ports, including the Royal Docks in London, became derelict, as all our imports arrived in Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, and were then transported here by road via ferries. Another decade passed, and the world’s largest merchant navy was almost gone, reduced to a few cruise lines and ferry operators.

I went on to have a career in manufacturing, holding middle and senior operations management roles, so I also witnessed the decline of our manufacturing sector firsthand. Before becoming semi-retired, my wife and I ran our own independent retail business in the Yorkshire Dales. In 53 years, I’ve never been unemployed, and my experience spans three major sectors: maritime, manufacturing, and retail. From 2015 to 2018, as a member of the British Independent Retail Association, I sat on their Legal & Parliamentary Affairs Committee.

MY PRIORITIES

• Fix our roads and repair crumbling infrastructure
• Common sense solutions, not ideology
• Improve life chances for young people
• Take real action on crime and anti-social behaviour
• Reduce wasteful council spending
• Protect and improve vital local services

VOTE REFORM TO REVIVE OUR COMMUNITY
It is only natural to want better life chances for your children and grandchildren than you had. However, the sad truth is that the outlook for young people today is not what it should be. They have been let down by successive failed governments. We need to improve life for all generations, starting with better NHS healthcare, hospitals, doctors, dentists, and education.

VOTE REFORM UK TO BRING BACK COMMON SENSE
When I left school at 16 to join what was then the world’s largest Merchant Navy, there were many WW2 veterans still at sea. They would be appalled at what this country has become after over 50 years of failed ideology from the two main parties.

VOTE REFORM UK TO SAVE OUR ROADS
I have seen Highways visit our local area three times in the last 12 months to identify potholes for road crews to repair. Recently, they selected three more potholes that were worthy of attention, ignoring all the others that were not 40mm deep. Why? With new leadership at Lancashire County Council, we can invest in our highways, resurface our crumbling roads, and reduce the number of potholes. For too long, our highways have not been treated as a priority. Reform will make improving the roads our focus.