PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak has had his say on a campaign to give Barrow Royal town status.

The PM visited Barrow's shipyard the week after a bid to make the town Royal was formally submitted to the Government for review by King Charles III.

Furness MP Simon Fell has been pushing the campaign and has received the support of organisations including BAE Systems and Westmorland and Furness Council.

The Prime Minister spoke to The Mail about the campaign.

Asked if he supported the bid to give Barrow Royal town status, Mr Sunak said it 'wouldn't be right' to pre-empt the formal process that is now under way but emphasised that he was a 'backer of Barrow'.

The Mail: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt during a visit to an engineering firm in Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria. The Prime Minister has touted a new fund backed by 20 million in public money to secure the future of the UK\'s

Mr Fell said he was 'hopeful' over the bid.

"I think we've put in a really robust case, we've hundreds of local people and actually a few dozen from overseas as well wrote in with really warm comments and memories about their time in Barrow," he said.

"We've had 150 years of naval shipbuilding, we should be really proud of the role Barrow plays in keeping us and our allies safe but actually more than that we laid out much of the Commonwealth's railways, our own railways, some of America's railways from here as well.

"We've had such an incredible impact on the world and with the SSN-AUKUS programme we'll continue to have that same sort of impact.

"I think we've made a really robust case. It's gone into the Cabinet Office, I'm very hopeful we'll get a good announcement."

The Mail: The Mail joined the Royal Status campaign The Mail joined the Royal Status campaign (Image: Newsquest)

A select few places in the UK have been conferred Royal status from the monarch.

Usually the title is handed down to recognise a royal link.

Other towns with this status include Wootton Bassett, Leamington Spa and Tunbridge Wells.

Leamington Spa was granted the title in 1838 by Queen Victoria and Tunbridge Wells in 1909 by King Edward VII.

Queen Elizabeth II granted Wootton Bassett its status most recently in 2011.

Ministers have previously said applications for towns to have a Royal title are run through the Cabinet Office and each decision is made on a case-by-case basis.