COPELAND’S general election candidates have issued their last appeal to voters ahead of polling day.

TRUDY HARRISON (Conservative)

I have been proud to champion Copeland – and I will continue to do so on issues that matter to you including nuclear, Brexit, transport, health, education, industry, jobs, farming, broadband and the environment.

If you want to leave the European Union and respect the referendum then vote for me and let’s make this work for Copeland. 17.4million people voted to leave (62 per cent of Copeland residents), Let’s take back control of our money, laws and trade agreements.

I have never stopped pushing for a nuclear plant on Moorside. The Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor consortium is committing to Copeland as a priority site. I have been working to help secure this which will generate jobs and a pipeline of work.

I have fought for investment on our roads and railways through relentless lobbying to deliver more reliable train services. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed a Conservative government would continue to develop a Whitehaven Relief Road/A595 improvements.

Together we saved 24-hour consultant-led maternity services at West Cumberland Hospital. Now, an extra £33.9billion for the NHS will allow us to hire more doctors and nurses and cut waiting times.

We have invested in four new schools across Copeland with a further £20million for Whitehaven Academy. There will be more funding for every pupil in every school.

It’s time to legislate our own agricultural policy, using public money for UK farmers, rather than subsidising farms across the EU.

Along with community leaders, I helped to secure millions in Government funding to transform Whitehaven, Millom and Cleator Moor. And I fully support Woodhouse Colliery.

We don’t want more dither and delay, a hung parliament, higher taxes, jobs at risk and serious concerns about our national security under Labour.

We want to bring real change with more police, more NHS funding, more GP appointments, more investment in schools and a strong economy with no raise of income tax, VAT or national insurance.

TONY LYWOOD (Labour)

My team and I have spoken to thousands of local people and it’s clear that Copeland’s voters want to see an end to the relentless cuts to our schools, NHS and local services. They realise that we cannot face another five years of Conservative cuts.

Voters know that the West Cumberland Hospital has lost many of its services and patients are having to travel to Carlisle and beyond for treatment. Our nurses and doctors need more resources. They do not trust the Conservatives with the NHS and, By voting Labour, we will send a message that our NHS is “not for sale” to Trump.

We want better funding for our schools and our children and teachers deserve our backing. We want to see our older people and those with disabilities treated with dignity. We want to see investment in our bus and train services.

This General Election gives voters the chance to judge the Conservatives on their record in Copeland and it is a record of failure. The Conservative candidate won a by-election by promising ‘to secure Moorside’. That promise was quickly broken. She failed to deliver on Moorside but she has voted enthusiastically to deliver cuts to the people of our area, cuts to our schools, NHS, police and bus services. She even voted to cut support for trainee post grad nurses!

I will work to make Moorside part of Labour’s policy of new build nuclear and this can be the catalyst for truly making our area ‘Britain’s Energy Coast’, a centre of wind, solar and tidal power to help address the urgent issue of climate change.

Let’s invest in Copeland and our people, let’s build a future for our young people and let’s save our NHS.

This is our chance to vote for real change. Vote Labour.

JOHN STUDHOLME (Lib Dem)

I have to say I have enjoyed this campaign. It is my first Parliamentary campaign, although I have fought many other political ones and I have fought this one for many reasons.

I have been a Liberal Democrat for 40 years, a passionate European for 55 years, a strong Cumbrian for even longer, and I consider the Tory and Labour leadership have failed us. I strongly believe the Liberal Democrats are the one party which can bring the UK together and create a fairer society. I consider I have the knowledge and experience to help to achieve that.

My core local priorities for Copeland are to support the ongoing work at Sellafield and Woodhouse Colliery, to give support for local farmers whether we Leave or Remain, and to pursue the twin aims of both energy conservation and tourism.

The main reason why I think you should vote for me is that I have a great deal of experience and knowledge of our county. Experience as a project officer, boosting tourism in Millom, tackling the problems of flooding, carrying out land reclamation at Cleator and bringing the Cumbria Coastal Way, and Cumbria Cycle Way to Whitehaven.

As a Cumbrian Land Agent and tourism expert I can bring my knowledge and experience to the problems that farming is having now and will have in the future if we leave Europe.

For me the main issue for this election is the danger of Brexit. I have four main reasons not to leave Europe.

If we leave, we will be less secure - the reason the EU was formed in the first place was to build a peaceful future, and in this it has succeeded. We will be less prosperous - the reason why most parliamentarians want to stay. If we remain, we will have more progressive legislation - cleaner rivers, air and beaches. And finally and of vital importance, we will be able to spend much more money on public services, putting far more resources into education, health, transport and affordable housing.

What is not to like? Vote for me, John Studholme, on December 12th and we can begin to turn this country around.

JACK LENOX (Green Party)

Earlier this year, enough voters in Copeland put their faith in the Green Party and helped get Gina Dowding elected to the European Parliament.

In the few short months that she has been there, she has produced a groundbreaking report: the Green New Deal in the North West. It outlines the potential for tens of thousands of new jobs in Cumbria as part of a green energy revolution, a green transport revolution, and a green revolution of our farming and industrial sectors. From bringing hydrogen production to Sellafield through the North West Hydrogen Alliance, to ending homelessness and eradicating poverty with a Universal Basic Income.

With each passing day, the climate emergency facing us grows ever more stark. At the end of November, the journal Nature published the work of a group of leading climate scientists who stated that climate tipping points are too risky to bet against, that we absolutely must keep global temperature rise to 1.5ºC, and that “this requires an emergency response.”

To make matters worse, the UK’s State of Nature Report 2019 showed that our wildlife loss is continuing unabated, with 41% of species in decline since 1970, and 15% under threat of extinction.

We want to unleash a revolution that lifts everyone up. Our plan for a Green New Deal, and four related programmes of reform, will transform the UK and improve the quality of everyone’s lives by creating a safer, fairer future for all.

A Green vote in this election is a vote for this bigger future. It’s a vote to transform the UK and build something good together. It’s a vote for making sure that our best days are still yet to come. If not now, then when?