A SENIOR member of the government used a trip to Barrow to warn people a vote for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party would lead to the shipyard being ‘killed by a thousand cuts’.

Standing in the shadow of BAE, defence secretary Ben Wallace argued voting Conservative at the upcoming election was the ‘clear choice’ in securing the future of the shipyard and backed Conservative candidate Simon Fell.

His comments drew criticism from Labour figures, who accused Mr Wallace of telling a ‘great big lie’.

Mr Wallace said: “The choice is going to be clear at the election: that you either vote for a party that is going to deliver more of these boats or a party whose leader in reality is not going to support what goes on here.

“People in Barrow build submarines because we use them. They don’t build submarines for the sake of it.

“Everyone knows Jeremy Corbyn does not believe in the use or deployment of these submarines and he will kill the shipyard by a thousand cuts.

“I wouldn’t trust Jeremy Corbyn to support the people of Barrow as far I could jump.”

Mr Wallace’s comments were questioned by Chris Altree, the Barrow and Furness Labour candidate.

It was Labour’s official position at the last election in 2017 to back renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent and the Barrow-built Dreadnought submarine programme to ensure the jobs of thousands of shipyard workers.

Hitting back, Mr Altree said: “It is entirely predictable and to be honest just a little bit boring that the Conservatives are peddling their old lie about the shipyard.

“It didn’t work for them in the past two elections and it won’t work for them this time around.

“Barrow shipyard and its entire workforce will flourish under an incoming Labour government.

“This yard is currently recruiting hundreds of extra personnel and submarine design and construction jobs are safe for decades to come.

“The only time the great big lie did work was in the 1980s when Tory Cecil Franks was elected as the MP for Barrow and Furness.

“Within a few short years 10,000 posts were massacred at the yard and people haven’t forgotten the misery that followed.”