Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed a cheering crowd at a Carlisle pub ahead of the final day of the General Election campaign.

Chanting and clapping as he spoke, the crowd at the Royal Scot pub in Morton roared as Mr Corbyn declared his ambition for sweeping changes, from education to healthcare.

The crowd also jeered his mention of Universal Credit, cheering Mr Corbyn as he said the benefits system would be scrapped and replaced, and the promise of significant job creation through a Labour Government’s “green industrial revolution”.

In response to the fact that benefit claimant figures in Carlisle had decreased since 2013, Mr Corbyn told the News & Star: “The claimant figures may be down and the job numbers up, but the wage levels and the levels of in-work poverty are very high.

“Hence our policy for a £10 an hour living wage for all workers which will obviously benefit the local economy, because people have more money to spend.”

Mr Corbyn, polled by national firm Ipsos MORI as the most unpopular opposition party leader since its records began, is described by some media commentators as a hindrance to local Labour Party campaigners.

Carlisle candidate Ruth Alcroft said this was sometimes felt on the doorstep, but argued it to be partly the result of relentlessly negative media campaigns.

“This is the toughest election I’ve known.

“People are angry at politicians. Jeremy Corbyn, who is one of the kindest, fairest men I’ve ever met has been attacked relentlessly, and people have seen these attacks in the media daily for the last four years.”

But she acknowledged that some of the criticism was not unfounded, saying that the party as a whole had

been too slow to respond properly to the issue of anti-

semitism among its membership.

“There have undeniably been cases of antisemitism in the party,” she said.

“I know this because I know people who have been affected by it. One case of antisemitism is too many. I think we were too slow to realise the scale of the problem.

“We see ourselves as the party of equality, and I think there was probably a naivety in the thought that ‘it can’t happen here’, and if it has happened it’s an individual problem, not a party problem.”

Conservative candidate John Stevenson said a recent leaked report to the Equality and Human Rights Commission written by the Jewish Labour Movement demonstrated Mr Corbyn is not fit to be Prime Minister.

With a membership of about 2,500, the Jewish Labour Movement is the largest Jewish group associated with the Labour Party.

Mr Stevenson said: "The Jewish Labour Movement has declared that the Labour Party is no longer space for Jewish people, in part because of Jeremy Corbyn. 
"The leadership of the Labour Party have poisoned the party to a point where you end up with seven former Labour MPs actually saying that people should vote for the Conservative Party.
"I think the leadership have allowed extremists back into their party, which I think is highly dangerous."

Mr Stevenson denied that Mr Corbyn's behaviour is comparable to that of his party leader, Boris Johnson.

Mr Johnson has been repeatedly criticised throughout the election campaign for comments made as an opinion columnist, from describing people in Africa as having "watermelon smiles" to likening the concept of gay marriage to marriage between "three men and a dog".

Mr Stevenson said: "I think this is a very different issue to what Boris Johnson has been criticised for.

"He was trying to make a point in an article, where I think what you see in the Labour Party is that it has become almost institutionally antisemitic.
"That is the fundamental difference.
"I acknowledge there are issues with my party around Islamophobia. But I think the party is trying to deal with it. I don't think that's the case with Labour.

"I think Jeremy Corbyn has created an intolerance in the Labour movement.

"I saw that [on Monday] at the Carlisle hustings.

"At the debate, many in the crowd were clearly Labour Party supporters, and quite frankly their behaviour was intolerant.

"Labour supporters are not interested in listening to you, they just want to shout you down. They do not want people to be challenging them."

  •  Also standing in Carlisle: Julia Aglionby, Liberal Democrats; Fiona Mills, Ukip.