New figures I’ve pulled from ONS data reveal thousands of households are struggling to pay their rent in west Cumbria as the Conservative cost of living crisis deepens.

Approaching a year after the Conservative Party crashed the British economy, prices are still rising, interest rates are soaring, and renters are finding it increasingly hard to pay the bills. 43% of renters are struggling to pay the bills – 10,654 in the former Copeland and Allerdale council areas.

The figures come as new data reveals just how hard it is for renters to get onto the housing market – with first-time buyers in the North West expected to need a staggering £36,000 deposit.

Renters in west Cumbria are being hammered by the Conservative cost of living crisis. Thousands of households are struggling to pay the bills – yet the out of touch prime minister offers nothing except patronising rubbish about holding our nerve.

The Conservative crashed the economy and the rest of us will pay the price for years to come – and renters face a double whammy. Rents are soaring, and soaring interest rates are putting that first home even further out of reach.

Families in west Cumbria can’t afford the Conservatives. Only Labour has a plan to get this country moving again. Through our mission-led government we have a plan to deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7, and we would bring in a Renters’ Charter, providing new certainty for renters, ending ‘no-fault’ evictions and introducing four-month notice periods for landlords.

The Conservative are out of touch and out of ideas. It’s time for change – time for Labour. We need a General Election now.

New analysis I’ve done based on ONS data published last month reveals soaring inflation has left the average worker in west Cumbria a staggering £1,213 worse off since 2021 – higher than in any other area in the North of England.

In 2021 the average wage in the Copeland local authority area was £35,908. Real pay fell 2.6% in 2022 and a further 0.8% in 2023.

The falls come at a time when taxes are at their highest levels in 70 years. Meanwhile, the average 2 year fixed mortgage has this month hit 6.6% – the highest since the financial crisis in 2008, and even higher than when the Conservatives crashed the economy in Autumn 2022.

Working people are taking a hammering under the Conservatives. Inflation is out of control, real wages are collapsing, and the Tory Mortgage Penalty is pushing monthly payments through the roof and keeping potential first time buyers locked out of home ownership. Yet instead of a real plan to help families through the cost of living crisis, all we get from this government is glib rubbish telling us to ‘hold our nerve’.

Families in west Cumbria need real change and a real plan. That’s what I’ll provide as the local MP and a Labour Government will provide. Our Mission-led government will prioritise strong growth and rising wages in every part of the country including places like west Cumbria.

Tory economic mismanagement is costing us all a fortune. A General Election can’t come soon enough.

I was delighted to welcome Wes Streeting, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, to west Cumbria to speak at a public meeting I organised on the future of emergency care in west Cumbria.

I’m concerned that the trust are struggling to provide overnight cover of doctors at A&E at West Cumberland Hospital and the impact this will have on patients.

Wes outlined Labour’s plan to double the number of medical school places to recruit thousands more doctors.

Keep up to date with my campaign to keep a fully-staffed, fully operational A&E open 24/7 at West Cumberland Hospital

I had a great meeting this week with members of Cumbria Chamber of Commerce and a tour of the facilities at Gen2. There is lots of ambition to grow local businesses. Skills, trade and infrastructure came up repeatedly.

Labour will have a significant national industrial strategy and I will ensure west Cumbria’s role in this. I’m looking forward to working with businesses to create a West Cumbria Industrial Plan that builds on the best of what we currently do.

We’re out talking to voters on the doorstep across west Cumbria every week.

This week I joined Cllr Jimmy Grisdale for a street surgery in Northside, where we talked to dozens of local residents about local and national concerns.

The main issue that came up time and time again was the Tory cost of living crisis. People here are really struggling to pay the bills and put food on the table.

We need short term help, like a proper windfall tax on energy companies to bring bills down further, but we also need a long term plan, like properly insulating tens of thousands of homes across west Cumbria to save money in the longer term.

As your Labour MP this is what I would fight to deliver.

Share your views in my residents survey

I was delighted to welcome Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary, to west Cumbria this week to discuss my thoughts on a West Cumbria Industrial Plan and plans to regenerate our town centres.

Jonathan made clear Labour’s commitment to delivering new nuclear and I am determined to ensure that west Cumbria benefits from that after more than a decade of dither and delay under the Tories.

We also visited businesses in Whitehaven to hear their views about how we revitalise our town centre. I hear concerns about this from voters all the time and it’s something I am committed to improving, working with the next Labour Government. Our plan to cut and reform business rates, reform the planning system and tackle anti-social behaviour which blights our town centres was warmly welcomed.

Finally we visited the Stobart warehouse at Lillyhall to discuss the decarbonisation of logistics and Labour’s plan to invest in skills.

More than 500 local residents across Whitehaven and Workington have signed my petition against the planned closure of the ticket offices at both stations.

I will be submitting the petition along with my opposition to the closure at the end of August before the consultation closes.

Sign my petition here

I had a really enjoyable visit to the Port of Workington to find out more about their work and ambitions for the future. Developing the Port is crucial to boosting new industrial and manufacturing jobs in West Cumbria and this will have my full support as west Cumbria’s voice in Parliament.

Following reports that Boots are planning to close 300 stores across the country, with a focus on pharmacies, I wrote to Boots and launched a petition calling on them to protect stores in west Cumbria.

I placed particular emphasis on the Boots Pharmacy in Frizington which, following last year’s devastating closure of the GP surgery, is now the only place in Frizington where residents can access medicines and medical advice.

See my latest letter to the Managing Director of Boots:

You can sign the petition here

I was delighted to get out and talk to voters in Egremont this weekend as we officially launched my campaign to be the next Labour MP for west Cumbria.

We had hundreds of conversations with voters in the town, who raised concerns with everything from poor bus services to the state of the NHS and the cost of living crisis.

I’ll be spending the summer months listening to local people and forming my priorities as your candidate and future MP.

Share your views in my residents’ survey