LIBERAL Democrat leader Tim Farron has pledged his party would plug funding gaps for the NHS and social care by putting a penny on income tax, in their first major manifesto commitment of the General Election campaign.

Mr Farron said the tax would raise more than £60m of extra funding for Cumbria, with £40m for the county's NHS and £20m for social care each year.

He told the Gazette £12m would go towards improving preventative measures for young people suffering with mental health issues, including more counselling and working with schools.

"I have dealt with 91,000 pieces of casework during my time as MP but the stuff that keeps me awake at night is young people and the impact on their families when they don't receive treatment," he said.

"If you can help at primary care level then you are less likely to have issues further down the line."

He added: "Health and care services across Cumbria are in crisis, stretched to breaking point by the Conservatives' cuts. We are seeing patients lying on trolleys in hospital corridors, urgent operations being cancelled and the elderly being denied the care they need.

"Only the Liberal Democrats are prepared to be honest with people and say that to secure the future of our NHS we will all need to chip in a little more. A penny in the pound would allow us to invest in improving local NHS services and ensuring the elderly receive the care they deserve.

"This Conservative government has left our health and care services chronically underfunded - and while the crisis gets worse they just don't seem to care. We cannot continue asking the system to deliver more and more, without giving it the resources to do so.

"The NHS was once the envy of the world and these plans are the first step in restoring it to where it should be. While the Conservatives plan further cuts, the Lib Dems will invest in health and care.”

He added some of the money, around £900,000 a year, would go towards running a new radiotherapy unit at Westmorland General Hospital.

He said the required £12m for the building was secured during the coalition Government but has been pulled since the Conservatives won the 2015 General Election.

The capital money needed to build the unit would still need to come from Government, he added.