MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron has been named as Westminister’s most prolific tweeter.

Social media monitoring service Yatterbox said he tweeted 17,421 times in the last year - more than any other MP.

Yatterbox said it equates to around three tweets every waking hour.

Mr Farron said: “I try to use Twitter like I use email, Facebook, street surgeries and advice clinics. I use them to be available to local people whenever they want to speak to me. I try to work hard at keeping in touch with people and getting things done for our area.”

Mr Farron’s team said all tweets were by him.

Total tweets by MPs were up 28 per cent on the previous year and 238 per cent higher than in 2011.