URGENT action is needed to halt the trend of Cumbrian university students failing to return to their home county after graduation.

That is the view of Cumbria County Council’s Conservative group leader Cllr James Airey following the publication of a new report by the county’s Local Enterprise Partnership which noted that while around 1,850 young Cumbrians progress to university each year, “historically, most of this cohort have not returned to the county on completion of their higher education studies.”

Cllr Airey said the statistics were worrying for the future economic health of the county and called for a special conference bringing together industry leaders, young people and council policymakers to be set up to examine the problem.

“We desperately need to address why so many of our brilliant young people feel they need to leave Cumbria to find employment after they have graduated or finished their training,” he said.

Cllr Airey said he believed low pay in the county was a key factor and called for particular consideration to be given to this issue.