Tim Farron urges Chancellor to provide extra funding for Cumbria’s roads, police and health services

On the floor of the House of Commons this week, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron challenged the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to allocate extra funding for services in Cumbria to take into account the significant number of tourists which visit every year. 

Speaking during Treasury Questions in Parliament, Tim said: “The towns and villages of the Lakes and the Dales in Cumbria are proud to host 20 million visitors every single year - we are the UK’s biggest visitor destination outside of London - yet we get almost no support whatsoever for the costs incurred by those visitors on our highways and other infrastructure, health services and police. 

“Will the Chancellor look at funding allocations to make sure that those services that support the residents and the visitors are properly funded?”

In response, Rachel Reeves said: “The Green Book reforms will ensure that we properly assess the benefits of investments in different parts of the UK.

“But the people of Cumbria and the Lakes will benefit from the record investment in the NHS, the roll-out of nurseries and free breakfast clubs at primary schools, as well as the increase in the national living wage, from which many workers in sectors such as hospitality and retail in the honourable member’s constituency will directly benefit.”

Speaking afterwards, Tim said: “I’m utterly baffled by the Chancellor’s response which made absolutely no reference whatsoever to my question.

“Tourism is a huge part of our local economy but there’s no doubt that having so many people visit our county each year has a significant impact on our roads and other infrastructure.

“That’s why I’ll keep lobbying ministers to give us the extra funding we need to support these services.”