Last surviving 'headscarf revolutionary' has returned to Westminster

The last surviving 'headscarf revolutionary' has been in Westminster, retracing the steps she took 51 years ago with her fellow campaigners.

Yvonne Blenkinsop, along with three other women, took the fight for safer working conditions to Parliament after three fishing trawlers were lost at sea within a few weeks.

The 'headscarf revolutionaries' managed to gather a 10,000-signature petition, known as the Fishermen's Charter, and headed down the parliament in the 1960s.

This charter demanded radio operators for all ships, better weather forecasting, training for young deckhands, more safety equipment and a mothership with hospital facilities to patrol with the fleet. It also stated ships should also report in at least once a day.

The cabaret singer and mother-of-three, Yvonne Blenkinsop knew the heavy price paid for earning a living at sea.

Her family had gone to sea for generations and her father turned down a place on the Lorello, which went down in 1955 with the Roderigo, claiming 40 lives. Her father later died, suffering a heart attack at sea with no chance of medical help, and her relatives still fished.

The Speaker of the Commons and the Prime Minister paid tribute to her. She then met Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, along with all three Hull MPs.