A Lib Dem parliamentary hopeful will hold an informal meeting with constituents to hear concerns amid the run-up to local elections next month.

Julia Aglionby will contest the new Penrith and Solway seat, spanning from Alston to Silloth, and including Penrith, Keswick, Cockermouth, Maryport, and Dalston – part of Carlisle.

Her event at Langwathby Village Hall on April 24 at 7.30pm will be attended by Adrian Waite, standing for PFCC in Cumbria, hoping to be elected on May 2, and who is the former finance director for Copeland Borough Council.

Ms Aglionby said the Liberal Democrats are ‘running a campaign highlighting the extent to which the current government have neglected both the issues of rural crime and violence against women and girls’.

It follows several meetings held around the constituency, including ones in Cockermouth, Lazonby, and Penrith, and featured hot topics like Israel/Gaza, the upcoming landline switch-off, and the so-called ‘Penrith Pong’.

Her campaign has been characterised so far by her support from the farming community, and her pledge to advocate for the uplands more generally, particularly farmers, while ‘protecting the needs of the environment and our cultural heritage’.

She was a founding member of the Penrith and Eden Refugee Network and held the position of director of the Cumbria Rural Enterprise Agency.