The Labour party in Carlisle has issued an apology to a Conservative candidate for wrongly claiming that he kept donations given to a jobs fair for himself.

Carlisle Labour wrote a Facebook post acknowledging that it had published a “factually inaccurate and misleading” article about John Stevenson, who is seeking re-election as the MP for the north-western seat.

It concerned Mr Stevenson’s role with the Carlisle Skills Fair, an event that is designed to bring together businesses and training providers in the area.

Labour’s post read: “Carlisle Labour Party unreservedly apologises to John Stevenson for the posting of a factually inaccurate and misleading article concerning the Carlisle Skills Fair. It suggested that:

“1. John Stevenson had not been the originator of the Carlisle Skills Fair and had merely taken over an existing event and,

“2. John Stevenson had kept personally the donations which were given to him for the Skills Fair

“We acknowledge and accept that both these statements were factually incorrect.

“We apologise for any distress or reputational damage caused to John. We also apologise to his family and friends for any distress caused to them.

“As requested by John we have a made a payment to two Carlisle charities in recognition of the damage caused. No payment has been made to John himself.”

Mr Stevenson won the marginal seat off Labour in 2010 and held it in the last election with a majority of 2,774.

He was the first Conservative to win a parliamentary election in the constituency since 1959.