Energy bills and the NHS: What's leaving General Election voters undecided in Barrow and Furness?

ITV Granada Reports journalist Lauren Ostridge has been hearing from the people of Barrow and Furness ahead of the General Election on 4 July.


Barrow and Furness is a key battleground for both the Labour party and Conservative party in the upcoming General Election on 4 July.

The area is a marginal seat which means it has flip-flopped from Labour to Conservative over the last 100 years.

But in 2019, the population voted in the Tories as the red wall was brought down across Cumbria. But, five years later, could voters call time on the Conservatives?

For many, it will be the first time they vote for the Barrow and Furness MP since the boundary change, which ensures all voting areas are a similar size and population.

The constituency now includes the whole of the Furness peninsula, Eskdale and Duddon Valleys, and coastal West Cumbria as far north as Ravenglass.

The current MP is Simon Fell, who has been in the seat since 2019, after securing a 51.9% vote share.

It was a very significant year for Cumbria's political history as every single Labour seat was lost - but will 2024 be the year for the reds?


List of candidates standing in the Barrow-in-Furness constituency:

  • Simon Fell - Conservative

  • Michelle Scrogham - Labour

  • Adrian Waite - Liberal Democrats

  • Lorraine Wrennal - The Green Party


Barrow and Furness is home to BAE Systems which makes the UK's next generation submarines. Credit: PA Images

This constituency grew on the back of the shipbuilding industry and is now the home of BAE Systems, which is making the next generation of submarines to carry the UK’s nuclear missiles.

Both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer have visited the shipyard to affirm their commitment to the nuclear deterrent, with major investment pumped into the company.

But when I spoke to some of the workers in Cumbria Crystal in Ulverston, their main concern was rising energy bills, cost of living and the NHS.

Charlie Jefferys cleans and polishes the crystalware and packs each item up to be delivered to customers all over the world.

He has autism and says he will be voting for the party promising to handle the NHS with care.

Voters at Cumbria Crystal are concerned about issues like the cost of living and NHS.

Charlie told me: "I am on the autistic spectrum and I was diagnosed rather well at the age of four but for others, let's just say the process isn't great."

For some people, they will not be voting at all on 4 July.

"I never have done", said Andy who has worked as a glass blower for the last two decades.

"I think all politicians promise the world but never deliver. It makes no difference."

Walney Island

Some candidates vying for the seat have promised to fight for more support to help constituents who are struggling with their mental health.

Self Harm Awareness For All (SARF), a local mental health charity, say the number of people seeking their help has skyrocketed.

Ian Burn, Chair of SARF, said: "In recent years we've had a spike in suicides and that's just the very extreme end of mental well-being issues.

"There needs to be more funding. To rely on charities to do this sort of work who start every year with more money and have to try and find that money.

"We have twice the national incidents in this area, you'd argue that requires significantly more funding to deal with that."

Down the road on Duke Street, people from across the constituency are gathered in Craven Park, the home of Rugby League club Barrow Raiders, to watch England in the Euros 2024.

Despite the arena being decked out in England flags and football fans singing the national anthem, who they want to run their country still seemed unclear.

One said they will be voting for Reform UK, while another would like to see the Conservative Party out of power, and several people said they will not be voting at all.

For Barrow Raiders Chair Steve Neale hopes the next party will bring his costs down.

"We've got to diversify our income stream", he told me.

"Fuel bills have trebled. For a ground this size we've gone from £12,000 a year to £36,000 a year in its peak.

"Getting inflation under control is something really important.

"We're a leisure business and we can really suffer because people just don't have a great deal to spend, they have to put food on the table before they spend the leisure pound."

He went onto say: "I think 14 years of Conservatives and people have fell out of love."

With just over a week to go, who will the people of Barrow and Furness choose when the final whistle is blown.


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