The Labour candidate for the new Penrith and Solway parliamentary constituency launched his campaign for election on Saturday, 17 February with a series of street meetings across the area.

Markus Campbell-Savours, 42, of Keswick, was selected at a meeting in Wigton in December to stand for Labour in the upcoming general election.

In Maryport, Cockermouth and Penrith today, Mr Campbell-Savours set up a ‘soap box’ on the street to engage with constituents at open-air meetings.

"I am a local man, born and brought up in Keswick where I live with my wife and family,’ he said.

"‘I’m very honoured to have been chosen by local Labour members as the party’s candidate and I will be even more honoured to be elected to represent the area that I know so well in Parliament.

"I live in the constituency and I share people’s concerns, from getting timely and accessible health care, to rural bus services, to the worrying growth of holiday lets that are impacting on housing and social bonds in our small towns and rural communities.’

A general election is due within the next year with rumours suggesting that the prime minister could call an election as soon as May.

It will be the first time that voters will elect a Member of Parliament for the new Penrith and Solway constituency, which has been created due to boundary changes and includes parts of the former Workington, Carlisle, Copeland, and Penrith and The Border constituencies.

Mr Campbell-Savours toured the area on Saturday to launch his key priorities for Penrith and Solway, which stretches from Maryport on the Solway coast to Alston high in the Pennines and from Dalston in the north to Borrowdale in the south.

"Thirteen years of the Tories have ravaged our communities," said Mr Campbell-Savours.

"Families here are struggling, with sky-high energy bills, stagnating wages and the NHS and other public services at breaking point.

"We need an MP and a government that works for all of us, not just for those at the top. Labour under Keir Starmer is determined to give people hope for the future and to reverse the damage and decline the Tories have inflicted on the NHS, our social care services, and on people’s wages and mortgages and the public finances. This is one of Labour’s target seats and we can win here."

Labour are currently ahead in the polls are would win in Penrith and the Solway if an election were held today according to the data. 

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Current Conservative MP for Workington, Mark Jenkinson is standing in Penrith and the Solway alongside Julia Aglionby for the Liberal Democrats and Matthew Moody for Reform UK. 

Mr Campbell-Savours is the son of Lord Campbell-Savours who was the MP for Workington from 1979 until 2001 and he also stood to become the Labour candidate for the new Workington and Whitehaven seat but lost out in a controversial campaign to Josh McAlister.