North West MEP Julie Ward is closing her Workington office.

Mrs Ward, who was elected to the European Parliament in 2014, is moving her operations to her Manchester office.

She had been the only MEP in the region based north of the M62.

Her full-time office manager and her constituency manager will lose their jobs in the move.

Mrs Ward is one of three Labour MEPs in the region.

They split the constituency between them after election and the others are based in Manchester and Merseyside.

Mrs Ward opened a Manchester office earlier this year.

It is understood she has spent little time in her Workington office this year.

Mrs Ward could not be contacted for comment.

The North West has eight MEPs.

They are Mrs Ward, Theresa Griffin and Afzal Khan of Labour, Paul Nuttall, Louise Bours and Steven Woolfe of UKIP, and Conservatives Jacqueline Foster and Sajjad Karim.

Each MEP is provided with a budget from the European Parliament to fund offices and staff in Brussels and their constituencies.

The money is administered by a third party on their behalf.