PREPARATIONS are under way for Labour to unveil its vision for Cumbria ahead of next month’s county council elections.

Labour members from across Cumbria gathered outside Cumbria County Council's headquarters in Carlisle on Saturday morning, as the party prepares to launch its manifesto on Monday.

In Barrow, seats will be contested in Dalton North, Dalton South, Hawcoat, Hindpool, Newbarns and Parkside, Old Barrow, Ormsgill, Risedale, Roosecote, Walney North and Walney South.

Areas of the South Lakes set to go to the polls include Cartmel, Grange, High Furness, Low Furness, Ulverston East, Ulverston West and Windermere.

There will also be a battle for the electoral divisions of Millom and Millom Without.

Councillor Stewart Young, leader of Cumbria County Council, said that it was a “challenge” to put together the manifesto following government funding cuts.

He said: “We've been in administration for four years now and this is essentially a view of what we've been doing over those four years.

“We've got planning permission for two new care homes - one in Carlisle and one in Copeland - and we're also focusing on extra care housing.

"Adult social care is a big issue for us.

"The other thing is that we're seeing an eight per cent cut in real-term funding for schools, which we're having to work against." Mr Young said that Labour also opposes plans laid out by the Conservatives to hand control of the county's fire and rescue service to the police and crime commissioner.

"It's not something that we agree with," he said. Mr Young said that Cumbria will also be campaigning for greater investment in its infrastructure from the Government. "We've got the West Coast Main Line and we've got the M6 - our north-south links are okay," he said.

"But it's our east to west links that aren't. We've got NuGen investing in west Cumbria and GlaxoSmithKline are investing in Ulverston but our road and rail links aren't good enough.

"A lot of money goes to the south but there's investment in Cumbria and we need those links. The Government talks about the Northern Powerhouse but it's focused on Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool. "Scotland and Northern Ireland also get more money than us. It's more like the northern poorhouse."

A total of 84 seats across Cumbria will be contested at the elections, on Thursday, May 4.