Two councillors who were being investigated over alleged anti-Semitic Facebook posts leave Labour.

The national organisation representing barristers has highlighted a backlog of more than 200 cases at Carlisle Crown Court, urging the government to invest more money in local court services and legal advice.

In a paper to treasury ministers, external, the Bar Council says this would not only help deal with crime in the region, but also attract investment, provide a confidence boost to the local economy and help people in need access justice locally.

The council adds that Carlisle also has just one publicly funded legal advice provider for housing and none for welfare support issues.

Bob Cooper
Political reporter, BBC Cumbria

Two Cumbrian councillors who were being investigated over claims of antisemitism have resigned from the Labour Party, BBC Radio Cumbria understands.

Graham Calvin and Tom Higgins are both Copeland borough councillors and faced an internal party investigation over social media posts, although now they are no longer members, that will end.

It's understood both councillors resigned because of the suspension of the former leader Jeremy Corbyn and that they will continue to sit as independents.

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Jason Rushworth

A plan to create a brand new "alternative provision" school in Barrow has been hailed as "an exciting time for education".

Community leaders praised the proposals for a new 40-place school, which would be built on Channelside and support up to 25 young people with social, emotional and mental health needs, as "wonderful".

County councillor Anne Burns, Cumbria’s children’s services cabinet member, said: "Alternative provision is part of our inclusion strategy, so to get this up and running would be wonderful.”

The application by Cumbria County Council, external to Barrow Borough Council says the school has to be an adaptable building, able to change use throughout its lifetime of approximately 60 years, with the option to extend the building if pupil numbers grow.

Cumbria Police say they dealt with 377 reports of rapes and more than 700 other sexual offences between the start of this year and the end of October.

The figures have been released as part of the force's plan to raise awareness of sexual offences this month.

Image source, Getty Images

Officers have now started a campaign to highlight the issues because, they say, the majority of rapes are committed by people known to the victim, not by strangers.

Det Ch Insp Jenny Beattie said: "It doesn’t matter if someone has had sex with you on a number of previous occasions, or has a reputation for being promiscuous, or doesn’t hit you and push you off."

BBC Weather

It will continue cloudy and wet with frequent showers blowing in from the west, heavy at times, especially later in the day.

Winds will remain blustery with highest temperatures from 8C to 11C (46F to 52F).

Met Office forecasters have posted a yellow warning, external, saying between 50mm and 90mm (2in and 3.5in) of rain fell last night, causing flooding problems on the number of roads, and heavy showers may mean this recurs this afternoon and evening.

As always, you can find the detailed BBC weather forecast for where you are, by typing in your location or postcode here.

Bringing you the latest news, travel and weather from across Cumbria from Monday 2 November to Friday 6 November, 2020.

Cumbria's tourism industry is viewing the renewed lockdown with "deep concern", having already lost the larger part of the summer income that would normally keep businesses afloat through the winter.

Gill Haigh (pictured), the managing director of Cumbria Tourism, says the extension of the furlough scheme, allowing businesses 80% of the cost of keeping on staff for whom there's no work, would be welcome, but what was really needed was a long-term funding scheme to see the industry through the winter.

The Met Office has posted a new yellow warning for more heavy rain, external for parts of the county.

Image source, Met Office

The warning says that heavy showers this afternoon will merge into a longer period of rain that could bring down another 30mm (1.2in) on low ground and up to 50mm (2in) on high ground.

The Met Office says that with the ground saturated from the weekend, there could be further flooding.

BBC Cumbria Sport

Cumbria's women played key roles in major football and rugby union competitions at the weekend.

Image source, EPA

Georgia Stanway (pictured) scored the extra-time winner as Manchester City lifted the Women's FA Cup for the third time in four years.

And Cumbria's Abbie Ward scored a try as England women beat Italy 54-0 to win a second successive Grand Slam title in rugby union's Six Nations.

• Temperature at 3,000ft (900m): 2C to 3C (36F to 37F)
• Winds: Strong south-westerly breezes turning north-westerly later, gusts to 50mph at times
• Cloud: In the early morning bases may be between 2,000ft to 3,000ft (600m to 900m) but dropping before noon to between 1,000ft and 1,600ft (300m to 500m)
• Weather: Cloudy with frequent heavy and blustery showers from the west throughout the day. Along hills or at summits, precipitation may fall as sleet especially in the heaviest showers, and there will be a significant chill factor with the strong winds
• Visibility: Quite poor throughout the day above cloud bases, becoming very poor with heavy showers.

BBC Weather

It will be a mostly wet and cloudy day with frequent showers blowing in from the west, which will become heavy at times, especially later in the day.

Winds will remain blustery, with highest temperatures from 8C to 11C (46F to 52F).

All weather warnings for Cumbria have now expired, but there are a number of flood warnings, external in areas like the Sands at the centre of Appleby, the upper Eden generally, and further downstream, Rickerby Park and similar land near the Eden in Carlisle.

You can always find the latest BBC weather forecast for where you are, by searching for your location here.

Some are better prepared, others will diversify businesses and several want more financial support.

Connor Brown scores his first goal for more than a year as Barrow beat 10-man Bradford to record back-to-back wins.

The new rules came into force at midnight, just hours after they were first announced.

Tom Parkes scores against his former club as Exeter edge out 10-man Carlisle United at St James Park.

The government is accused of causing "chaos" with an announcement which took Carlisle by surprise.

A man in his 60s was cut from the wreckage by firefighters after a Citroen Berlingo and a Range Rover Evoque collided on Wandales Lane in Casterton, near Kirkby Lonsdale.

He was taken by ambulance to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and treated for what police say were minor injuries. The accident happened just before noon yesterday.

One of Cumbria's Labour peers says it is right to suspend the former leader, Jeremy Corbyn, from the party.

Mr Corbyn had reacted to a damning report on Labour's handing of anti-Semitism allegations under his leadership by saying that it was exaggerated by the party's enemies.

Lord Clark, who was as David Clark a senior Labour MP and front bench spokesman, said Mr Corbyn should simply have said he was sorry and supported Kier Starmer, the current leader.

The furlough scheme, which has supported 78,000 jobs in Cumbria during the coronavirus pandemic, comes to an end this weekend.

It will be replaced by the less generous Job Support Scheme, although business leaders say it is significantly better than the first version announced by the government.

Dan Visser, the vice-chairman of Cumbria Tourism, says it's going to be a challenging time for the industry that employs around 65,000 people.

Image source, Getty Images