The Barrow and South Lakes branch of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) attended the national People's Assembly Against Austerity demonstration in Manchester.

The protest took place at Oxford Road on Sunday October 1 over the Tory Party Conference weekend.

A spokesperson for CPB Barrow and South Lakes branch said: "The government have left us with a cost of living crisis, decaying public services, and no serious action on the climate crisis.

"Once again, Labour offer us little more than crumbs so they can have their turn at enjoying power and cronyism at Westminster.

"Neither party cares about places like Barrow and Kendal. The reason people are joining us locally is because we offer a proper alternative to Barrow and Furness Labour run by careerists. They are more interested in photo ops on Facebook than transforming the area for the better.

The Communist Party says its numbers have risen sharply over the past few years to their highest levels in decades - which includes the Barrow & South Lakes branch.

A spokesperson added: "As the national press have now noticed, the Communist Party of Britain and its youth wing, the Young Communist League, were a sizable presence among the thousands of workers protesting against the Tory Party on Sunday in Manchester.

"Instead, we want investment in health, transport, housing, education, energy, technology, and environmental protection that is run for the benefit of the nation and the future of the planet, and not to line the pockets of millionaires and billionaires."

The Mail: The Barrow and South Lakes Branch Communist Party flagMichelle Scrogham is the Labour Parliamentary candidate for Barrow and Furness. Mrs Scrogham's early career was in banking, working locally in Barrow, Dalton, Millom and Ulverston.

She eventually became a union rep and then chair of the Banking Insurance & Finance Union North West.

A Labour spokesperson said: "Thanks to Keir Starmer's leadership, the Labour Party has changed and it will never go back. The Labour Party is no longer the party of protest.
 
"If some party members don’t like that, if they want to support narrow interests, if they don’t like the changes Labour have made, the door is open, and they can leave.
 
"We have an excellent candidate in Michelle Scrogham who, if given the privilege to represent her home town in parliament, will make sure the people of Barrow and Furness get the decent representation they deserve, and give the town its future back."

The Mail has approached Simon Fell for comment.