A bid to create a plastic free Carlisle has been launched - sparked by the suspected fate of one of its newest residents.

The recent arrival of Driggsby, the Fin Whale skeleton, at the city's Tullie House museum and the story of the mammal's demise in the waters off Cumbria's coast has moved local council leader Colin Glover.

Mr Glover has ordered an immediate clampdown of single-use plastics across all city council bases and operations with a push to eliminate their use completely.

He is also calling on local organisations and businesses to follow suit.

"There is one scourge on our environment that is a particular problem and it is on the increase and that is single use plastic," he said.

Referring to Driggsby, Mr Glover said: "It is not known how she died, but there were no obvious signs of injury and the curator believes it was probably connected with pollution poisoning through plastics, possibly through toxins ingested by the mother and then passed into her infant through her milk.

"We have had initial discussions with local environmental charities and they are keen to help us with the challenges presented by single use plastics."

As a city with three rivers flowing through it, Mr Glover is keen that Carlisle does what it can to prevent plastics from entering watercourses.

The move comes as a growing number of national businesses scrap plastic drinking straws.

JD Wetherspoon, Costa Coffee and Pizza Express - which have numerous branches across Cumbria - feature in a list of well-known names backing the bid.

Greenpeace UK ocean campaigner Louise Edge said: "Straws are among the worst examples of the use-once-and-bin plastic threatening our oceans.

"They can do real harm to marine life, whether they get stuck up a turtle's nose or in a fish's mouth. In most cases, we can simply do without straws, and, whenever they're genuinely needed, there are good alternatives made of less harmful materials."

Supermarkets are also following suit with Tesco, Sainsbury's, Iceland and Asda adopting a raft of measures, including scrapping single-use plastic bags.

The issue of rising levels of plastic waste polluting oceans and coasts was recently highlighted in the BBC's Blue Planet II series.

Mr Glover made the surprise "plastic free Carlisle" announcement during a special city council meeting on Tuesday night, where the budget for 2018/19 to 2022/23 was agreed.

The new budget, which provides an insight of council spending and investment up until 2022/23, includes:

* a council tax increase of £5 for a Band D property in 2018/19,

* £60,000 a year to create new full-time equivalent posts for the homelessness service;

* £60,000 a year to fund increasing numbers of apprenticeships;

* plans for a long-awaited redevelopment of the Sands Centre, which could cost in the region of £19.4m;

* a reduction in core funding to Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery of up to £300,000 from 2020;

* £235,000 to help the council continue its work on schemes including the Borderlands growth deal, the redevelopment of the Business Interaction Centre in Paternoster Row, and promoting the Central Plaza as a redevelopment opportunity;

* a £20,000 grant for north Cumbria's Sexual Assault Referral Centre;

* up to £276,000 over the next two years to cover wage rises; and

* a £5,000 grant to Carlisle Foodbank.

Mr Glover said: "We are doing everything possible to protect essential services and invest in the future of Carlisle, with increasingly scarce resources and more aggressive austerity imposed by government."

He also insisted that the council was "determined to invest" in Carlisle's future, with an "ambitious programme" of schemes.