Three former Labour MPs Workington joined party members to celebrate the party’s history in the constituency.
Voters in Workington constituency, which covers the West Cumbrian coast from Harrington in the south to Bowness on Solway in the north, and from Maryport inland to Bassenthwaite Lake, are being split by the Boundary Commission to go into two new Parliamentary constituencies, Whitehaven and Workington, and Penrith and Solway.
The dividing line between the two has been set between Flimby and Maryport on the coast. Penrith and Solway will stretch to Alston in the Pennines.
Former Labour MPs for Workington, Lord Dale Campbell-Savours, Sir Tony Cunningham and Baroness Sue Hayman joined local Labour Party members at The Settlement, High Street, Maryport, for the last-ever gathering of Workington Constituency Labour Party.
Many of those present were party activists who had helped the trio of former MPs win General Elections, as well as former Labour councillors on Allerdale Borough Council, which was abolished in April this year. Celebrating the local history of Labour with the former MPs was the leader of the new Cumberland Council, Mark Fryer.
Chair of Workington CLP, Juliet Wilson, now interim chair of Penrith and Solway CLP, said: “Workington constituency has been in existence for over 100 years, and the very first MP was a Labour man.
“Thomas Cape was born in Cockermouth in 1868 and he was our MP from 1918 to 1945. He had been General Secretary of the Cumberland Miners Association. Fred Peart, who was in Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s cabinet as Minister for Agriculture, followed him until 1976.
“Sue Hayman was, of course, the first woman to become an MP in Cumbria, and Dale and Tony were much loved and passionate representatives of our local communities.
“Labour has had a proud history of service to the people of West Cumbria and the disappearance of Workington constituency is a historic moment. It was great to have our three most recent Labour MPs with us at our social.”
