A moment of political history was marked in a touching graveside tribute.

Members of Carlisle Labour Party gathered to mark the 100th anniversary of the first general election in which some women were entitled to vote.

And they did so by honouring the politician who stood for the party in that campaign, in what proved to be a second political milestone for the city on that date.

Edward Lowthain was Labour’s first Parliamentary candidate in Carlisle, standing against Liberal Theodore Carr in 1918.

Senior party figures in the city felt it was an appropriate time to mark the party’s political life locally.

Among those who were at the ceremony in Carlisle Cemetery were former Carlisle MP Eric Martlew, his wife Elsie - a former deputy leader of Carlisle City Council and the current party chairman in the city - alongside city councillor Ruth Alcroft, who has been selected as Labour’s candidate for the next general election.

Mrs Alcroft said: “Ernest Lothian established the Labour tradition in Carlisle and I think that the need for a Labour MP in Carlisle and a Labour Government in Westminster is just as significant today as it was 100 years ago, when he stood.

“That’s because today in Britain people are suffering. There are an estimated 14 million people - a fifth of the population - living in poverty.

“There are queues outside of foodbanks and unprecedented levels of homelessness and rough sleeping.”

A recent United Nations report on poverty in the UK suggested that one in every two children in the country classed as poor.

“I’m certain that Ernest Lothian and his colleagues would be heartbroken that the issues they fought for 100 years ago are still so relevant today,” Mrs Alcroft added.

“This also marks the centenary of some women being entitled to vote for the first time. I hope that 2019 brings us a general election where I can fight to become Carlisle’s first ever female Member of Parliament, following in Ernest Lothian’s footsteps of making history for the Labour Party in Carlisle.”

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn yesterday said there was something “seriously wrong in our political and economic system” as he condemned rising poverty levels in the UK.

A report published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation earlier this month suggested a fifth of the population - more than 14 million people - are in poverty.