We asked you to submit your questions to candidates standing in the 2024 General Election.
From all your submissions, we chose 10 that represented the broad issues you wanted answers to.
We asked every candidate we had contact details for to respond.
We’ll be publishing them in the run-up to the General Election with the responses from the candidates who replied from each constituency.
These are the answers are from candidates standing in the Westmorland & Lonsdale constituency.
What do you plan to do about the abysmal state of public transport? Buses are either late, cancelled or constantly breaking down and not mechanically fit for purpose
Tim Farron, Liberal Democrats
We need a passing loop on the Lakes Line so we can double the amount of trains that run on the line.
This would provide a huge boost to businesses, visitors and residents. We also need to make Staveley station accessible so that people aren’t forced to climb 41 steep steps just to reach the platform.
The £2 cap on bus fares has been extremely welcome. However the cap is of no use for many of our local villages who rarely see a bus.
We need serious investment in rural bus services to tackle isolation and lower carbon emissions. Liberal Democrats would boost bus services by giving local authorities more powers to franchise services and simplifying funding, so that bus routes can be restored or new routes added where there is local need, especially in rural areas.
James Townley, Reform UK
Investment is needed, and when funds are secured, they must be spent wisely.
Over £13 million is being allocated to the Heart of Kendal project if it gets the green light.
In my view, this will make the town less accessible to passing trade, which supports our high street shops.
We should prioritise improving our infrastructure and public transport rather than funding expensive vanity projects. Elderly residents often spend over £60 on taxis for their weekly shopping due to the lack of alternatives. This is unacceptable.
Izzy Solabarrieta, Heritage Party
Public transport seems to be in a real mess. Firstly, I’d like to know why, what on earth has gone so very wrong in recent years? And learnings from that would need to be reacted to and implemented.
Secondly, private companies with contracts need to be fulfilling those contracts, or they will face penalties. Heads of these companies need to be held accountable for their company’s performance.
It is not acceptable for services to be regularly late, cancelled or not working. It is also not acceptable for companies that constantly under-perform to be receiving financial back up from government (taxpayer) subsidies.
I would like to see bus service companies being brought directly under the authority of the Department of Transport, which is currently not the case.
As an aside, I would love to live in a country again where people say hello to the bus driver. It seems only a few years ago that everyone did, and now only very few do.
Phil Clayton, the Green Party
We would allow councils to operate bus services, and give them the funding and powers to co-ordinate public transport across Cumbria.
