THE chairman of the Tory party has visited the ‘new blue wall’ with multiple meetings to new party MPs across Cumbria.

Amanda Milling was in Barrow, Copeland and Cockermouth to support the Conservative Party’s newest MPs and to meet people in the formerly staunch Labour seats which have now fallen to the Tories.

She was accompanied around the constituencies by Cumbrian MP's Simon fell Trudy Harrison and Mark Jenkinson.

Ms Milling said she had wanted to visit the area since she was elected chairman in February but had been unable to do so because of lockdown.

She first visited Barrow and Copeland where she met the the respective MPs Simon Fell and Trudy Harrison.

While in the area she took part in a litter pick with the Barrow MP, who thanked the Tory chair for her visit to the north and urged others to get involved in future litter picks.

On social media, he said: “Good to get out in Dalton this afternoon with @amandamilling and the team as part of the #GreatBritishSeptemberClean Universal recycling symbol.

“We can all do our bit to keep #Furness tidy - we’ll be holding more action days through the month and drop me an email for more info.

Ms Milling also said after the visit that the meeting with the MPs, including Mr Fell, gave her a greater understanding of the issues in the area.

She said: “Now I have been able to get out and see what is happening.

“This visit has given me a fairly good understanding of how people feel about about the challenges we have faced.”

Also on her visit, Ms Milling she said that in Cockermouth with Workington MP Mr Jenkinson MP, she found a community that had become resilient because of the challenges they had faced from flooding and, now, the pandemic.

She said: “I have picked up how businesses have adapted from their traditional roles as high street by increasing their online business and starting home deliveries and the like. It is a challenging situation but there is a feeling of optimism with new businesses opening in the town.”