JEREMY Corbyn has said he is "very sorry" that Cumbrian peer Lord Liddle "lowered himself" by backing an advert which claimed his legacy was a party which welcomed everybody - "except Jews."

Last month Lord Liddle endorsed a national newspaper advert which criticised the leader of the opposition's handling of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party.

Responding, members of the Penrith and the Border branch of the Labour Party gave “overwhelming” support to a motion expressing no confidence in the advert’s 67 signatories - who included the key New Labour figure Peter Mandelson, and the former Copeland MP Jack Cunningham.

Speaking to the News & Star at Rakefoot Farm in Keswick on Wednesday, the Labour leader said: "I'm very sorry that he (Lord Liddle) lowered himself by putting his name to that advertisement.

"Our party is big, our party is open, our party is diverse - there is no place whatsoever for anti-Semitism, xenophobia or any other form of racism, not just in my party but in our society.

"That kind of thing only divides people and weakens us all as a community. Our strength is our diversity."

During his visit the Labour leader spoke with the owner of the farm - Will Cockbain - about the potential impact of a no-deal Brexit on the farming sector.

He also made pledges about what he would do in Cumbria if he was elected as prime minister.

He said: “Properly funding local government and health services, looking at industrial and community development along the Cumbrian coast, particularly clean energy jobs.

"After all the west coast of Britain has the biggest rainfall and the strongest winds, there's got to be a lot of sources of energy there.

"Cumbria was a place of great industry, of industrial revolution, it is a place of great skill. With better transport links, a better rail service and better roads then it become a place of economic growth in the future, which is what I want to bring."

Mr Corbyn also backed up recent claims by Labour's parliamentary candidate for Carlisle and Carlisle City Councillor Ruth Alcroft about a north-south divide.

He added: "I think she's right. The levels of investment in infrastructure in London and the south east are much higher than anywhere in the North East or north west and what I would do is invest much more in the north and invest in a Crossrail for the north, which would be regeneration in itself.

"It is also about how decisions are made. We would set up a national investment bank, we would also set up regional transformation funds which would provide local funds for investment in small industries and small communities, high-tech, green, bringing jobs for the future.

"There would be locally made decisions on that. One of the problems is a lack of understanding - inevitably in a national government - about what happens in every one community.

"No government can be all seeing and all knowing, what you have to do is trust people in the locality and give them the support."

The Labour leader expressed a fondness for the county of Cumbria.

He explained: "I have been here many times, I love it. I love the hills, I love the lakes, I love the history of it and the poetry that Coleridge and Wordsworth created here and that sense of the history of the place.

"Also the vibrancy of it and the diversity of it. Many people don't understand that the huge industries that existed along the Cumbrian coast are part and parcel of the magic and joy of the place - I love being here."