LABOUR'S Barrow and Furness candidate for the next General Election said she would address infrastructure issues if she was put in power. 

Michelle Scrogham is the current mayor of Ulverston and was selected as the Labour candidate having beaten Chris Altree and Erica Lewis in April. 

She was in Barrow on Thursday with the shadow defence minister John Healey, who was visiting the town.

She took swipes at the Conservative government, despite the Barrow constituency being under Labour control from 1992 to 2018: "After 13 years of Conservative government nothing is working. Barrow town centre is a reflection of how the town centre is doing. They've failed Barrow for a number of years. There's no real plan that has been put in place.

"We need to know that we've got doctors and nurses and dentists and shops and roads."

She said she was 'excited' by the level of commitment from Labour politicians such as Mr Healey MP to the town. 

When asked what she would do if she was in power, Mrs Scrogham said: "Where do I start? For me locally it would be infrastructure. We can't build businesses here without that infrastructure - make sure we have got things in place such as roads and a transport system. 

"There's a huge list of issues - I can't think of one particular thing." 

When asked if Labour was complacent about winning back northern seats that swung Conservative in 2019, Mr Healey said: "The loudest voice against complacency is Keir Starmer. We will work every day to try and receive that trust." 

Mrs Scrogham said: "Nothing is taken for granted. When I have been knocking on people's doors recently the feeling at the moment is that they are fed up of people's promises. The most hardened Conservative voters - they have said [to me] I have voted Conservative all my life and never again." 

Barrow MP Simon Fell praised the government for announcing last month that £4billion will go towards the new SSN-AUKUS programme. 

He said: "This announcement reinforces the government’s continued and clear support for the UK submarine enterprise, supporting thousands of highly skilled UK jobs - including in Barrow."