Created for the 1979 European Parliament elections in 1979, Cumbria was a single-member constituency formed from the grouping of numerous neighbouring British Parliament constituencies.
The constituency saw only one election under the chosen boundaries, with the county of Cumbria and electors in Westminster constituencies as far south as the Fylde coast electing its MEP as one constituency in 1979 only. In subsequent elections, the constituency became the expanded Cumbria and Lancashire North.