BREXIT and President Trump may be dominating politics but the future of our local schools and hospitals is as important as ever - and alarm bells are sounding.

Meetings I have had in Westminster and Barrow over the last seven days have underlined the real funding threat facing these vital local institutions, quite aside from any further cuts which may be necessary if we get a bad economic deal when we leave the EU.

There are ominous signs that cuts due to be forced on hospital services across the region could put a fresh question mark over the government's long term commitment to a full consultant-led maternity unit at Furness General.

The latest set of NHS regional reviews - called sustainability and transformation plans - are causing havoc in areas such as Copeland, but the one for Morecambe Bay and Lancashire has been on a slow burner and still has a fair way to run.

I am deeply worried that local health managers have been ordered to eliminate their running deficit by this time next year or potentially face major cuts. As it stands, while innovative changes have been made to the way health services are delivered in the community and our hospital trust is meeting its financial targets, that deficit is still projected to be in the region of £60m by next April. I will obviously keep you posted as this progresses; we must not let the brilliant wins for our community campaign be unpicked.

On schools, this week I accompanied fellow Cumbrian MPs Tim Farron, Sue Hayman and Rory Stewart to meet education minister Nick Gibb about funding problems faced by the county.

The minister was expecting to talk about something which is called the national schools funding formula, a process in which the government is changing the way in which funding is allocated to different schools across the country.

The proposed change in the complex calculation means schools in some areas are getting more per year and some are getting less - and as you can imagine the areas standing to lose out are very unhappy.

Now as it happens, most Cumbrian schools gain from this particular change. Mr Gibb suggested the total budget to schools in the county will be £4 million higher than it would otherwise have been once the changes are fully implemented.

So, time to roll out the bunting for a big school spending spree to improve learning for our children? Unfortunately not.

Headteachers are frustrated and angry that this row over the funding formula is distracting from a much bigger, stealth cut the government is forcing on schools for the first time in many years. For years under the last Labour government, school budgets rose, then even after the global financial crash the last Conservative government protected school spending from rising cost pressures. Now, Theresa May is forcing schools to swallow those rising costs from their existing budgets. According to the authoritative National Audit Office, that means a real terms cut for Cumbrian schools of £27 million. So the government is giving with a £4 million, Donald Trump sized hand, and taking away with a £27 million sized Hulk fist.

Heads and governors are doing their level best to minimise the impact on the classroom, but there is only so much they can do before vital teaching posts are threatened and kids really start to lose out.

Everyone understands money is tight, and also that we need to embrace innovative ways to help children learn better.

But cutting funding to schools is the wrong priority, especially when the government is giving away hundreds of millions of pounds in inheritance tax cuts for millionaires. We will all have to keep working together to try to persuade the government to think again.