THE media seem to imply the general election is all about Brexit. But surely this election should be about more than just our relationship with Europe.

It must also be about the everyday lives of ordinary people who are struggling to get by, and how we can help them.

At the moment the trend seems to be against them.

In education we are experimenting with more selective schools that appear to favour the well-off. In addition, among existing schools, cuts to the number of school teachers are going to hit significantly harder in the deprived areas than in the affluent ones.

Food nutrition of our children is worsening. Yet does not seem to be a priority. A recent NUT survey showed a worryingly high proportion of primary school children coming back from holidays with signs of malnutrition. I find this shocking, but it does not get much publicity.

The Trussell Trust recently reported a significant increase in the emergency food it provided in 2016/17. (some 1.2m). In Kendal, the local food bank handed out more than 1,000 meals per month in 2016, many of them to children. On the Furness peninsula, we see an additional community kitchen opening up in Roose due to demand and I was horrified to read the Royal College of Nurses indicating that some nurses have had recourse to food banks because they just cannot make ends meet, even though they are in work.

We have a crisis in social care which shows no sign of being fixed, and there are constant concerns about the funding of our hospitals in the Morecambe Bay Area. A number of local GP surgeries closed last year or are under threat. In 2015 a survey showed that as many as a third of GP doctors across the nation were looking to retire in the next five years.

There is also a housing shortage, not only in the south. Recent figures show the number of homeless increasing in South Lakeland. Too many families remain on our housing waiting list. Some of readers may have seen the articles over the previous weekend describing how the current system makes it very difficult for people on housing benefit to find private rented accommodation.

If, under cover of Brexit, the current government gets a huge mandate for its policies, I doubt any of this is going to change significantly.

Sadly none of the above is getting much news time, because of the obsession with Brexit.

Locally we are doing what we can. For example South Lakeland District Council is delivering on a plan to build 1,000 affordable homes to rent, so that local people can afford to live in our area. Working with Cumbria County Council and other organisations, we have a task force to address the issues raised by increasing poverty and as a party we Lib Dems are advocating a £4bn cash injection to deal with the crisis in health and social care, which would see over £40m come to Cumbria.

So among all the noise of Brexit and the talk of strength and stability, spare a thought for the disadvantaged (the 'Just Not Managings'). How are they going to fare after this election? Without a rigorous national debate, they might just be forgotten.