Minister agrees to meet South Lakes MP over Government plans which would cripple Lake District tourism industry

In the House of Commons yesterday local MP Tim Farron urged the Government to ditch plans which would make it much harder for local businesses to recruit workers from overseas.

During Business Questions, Tim said that proposals to prevent people from coming to the UK unless they earnt £30,000 a year would have a crippling effect on Cumbria's tourism economy.

In response, business minister Kelly Tolhurst said she recognised the importance of Cumbria's tourism industry to the UK and said she would be happy to meet with Tim and other leaders of the hospitality industry to hear their concerns.

Speaking afterwards Tim said: "The hospitality industry in Cumbria are rightly up in arms about the Government's deeply damaging immigration plans.

"With around 20,000 non-UK staff working in the hospitality industry in the Lakes and only around 500 people registered as unemployed in South Lakeland, it's crystal clear how reliant we are on people coming to work from overseas.

"I won't stop banging on the Government's door about this until they finally wake up and scrap these awful plans."