Local MP Tim Farron has today welcomed the news that the Kentmere mental health ward at Westmorland General Hospital is set to receive an extra £1m in funding if plans for the reconfiguration of Mental Health services in South Cumbria are approved.

Back in 2016, Tim led a successful campaign to save the ward after Cumbria Partnership Trust announced plans to close it.

On the floor of the House of Commons this morning, local MP Tim Farron urged the Government to tell Network Rail to scrap plans to close the Lakes Line over the busy Easter weekend.

Network Rail are planning on closing the line, which runs from Oxenholme to Windermere, for both Easter Saturday and Sunday to do maintenance work.

Local MP Tim Farron has been formally elected chair of the new All-Party Parliamentary Group for hill farming.

Last night, Tim and the NFU held a launch event for the group in Westminster which was attended by MPs from across the political spectrum, including the farming minister George Eustice.

The cross-party group presented the minister with a copy of 'The Manifesto For The Uplands' which calls for more funding to be made available for hill farming as well calling on the Government to secure tariff-free access to the EU market.

Commenting on new figures from the Police Federation which show that nearly nine in ten officers feel that there isn't enough front-line staff to meet demand, local MP Tim Farron said:

"The Police Federation's findings sadly come as no surprise to anyone who has actually listened to what our local police officers have been saying over the past decade.

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock calling for urgent investment in extra ambulances after it was revealed that the North West has the lowest number of ambulances per head in the country.

New figures from the NHS show that London has twice as many ambulances per head as the North West does, despite covering a much smaller geographical area.