Jobs are at risk at a Carlisle transport firm because of Government cuts, it has been claimed.

A grant which supports companies which move freight by rail rather than road - the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme - is being reduced by £4m per year from April 1.

This will see it fall from about £20m in the last financial year to about £15m in the future.

Andy McDonald, Labour’s Shadow Transport Secretary, claims this will affect DRS (Direct Rail Services), which is based in Etterby Road, Belah, because a route operated by the firm will no longer be covered by the grant.

This is the service which transports rail freight between Daventry, Northamptonshire and Mossend, Scotland, carried out six-days-aweek by the company since 2010.

A DRS spokeswoman though has said the company is committed to this service and wants to see it develop.

She said: "DRS have been extremely proud to provide safe, secure and reliable rail services to premium customers in the retail industry over the past 15 years.

"We are a strong advocate of the safety and environmental credentials of rail and constantly work to ensure our services deliver best value for money for our customers."

"We will continue to work with all relevant parties to ensure that this valuable work continues and grows in accordance with our strategy in the future," she added.

Mr McDonald said: “Encouraging rail freight reduces congestion, road accidents, air pollution and climate change impacts, so it’s self-defeating for the Government to go ahead with these cuts."

He also said DRS, which is one of only two publicly-owned railway operators in the UK, should be a "source of pride" for the country.

"Instead, the Government are pulling the rug from under their feet and putting jobs at risk," he added.

Carlisle's Conservative MP John Stevenson said he would be raising the issue with the company.

"The Government has to get the balance right being fair in a competitive environment between haulage on the road and rail," he added.

"Whether this has a direct effect on DRS is difficult to tell. I am due to meet them in the near future and I will discuss it with them."

DRS began as an offshoot of BNFL at Sellafield in 1995, tasked initially with moving nuclear cargoes. It remains a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Although DRS stills transports nuclear material, it has diversified into other types of rail freight.

It operates more than 100 locomotives, employs 440 staff and is responsible for taking 26m truck miles off UK roads every year. The company has rail hubs in both Carlisle and Crewe.