BARROW'S Labour general election candidate told his Conservative opponent: “Please don't lecture me on defence issues.”

Chris Altree hit back at Conservative opponent Simon Fell over his claims jobs would be at risk at the town's shipyard under a Corbyn government.

Mr Altree said: "At every general election in recent years the Conservatives have used the same old scare tactics about Labour and the shipyard and this time it's no different. In fact we were waiting for Simon Fell to repeat the usual boring tosh.

“The simple truth is that binding contracts have been signed and jobs are rock-solid safe at the yard for at least the next 30 years.

“And as a former Royal Signals soldier who made a tour of Afghanistan I am not going to take lectures on defence from Simon Fell. I put my life on the line for my country in a hostile overseas environment – unlike some people who post risible and baseless comments from the comfort of their armchairs.

“Barrow shipyard and its entire workforce will flourish under a Labour government which is 100 per cent in favour of maintaining our nuclear deterrent and other defence systems currently under construction at BAE.”

Simon Fell, the Conservative’s Parliamentary candidate for Barrow said the Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry placed fresh doubt on the future of the BAE shipyard, after a TV interview in which she refused to confirm that a Jeremy Corbyn Government would be prepared to fire nuclear weapons in retaliation after a nuclear attack on Britain.

Mr Fell said: “Thousands of people commute from across Cumbria to work at the shipyard here. The work BAE does building submarines is vital for our national security.

“If Jeremy Corbyn got in power his government would not only be a direct threat to our security, but also a threat to everyone who works here.”

Jeremy Corbyn told activists that he would get rid of trident ‘as soon as I can’ – placing concerns about the future of the workforce at the shipyards, whose jobs are dependent on the replacement.