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War protest vote allows Tories to regain control
Lancaster and Wyre returned to Tory blue after eight years as a Labour held seat.
Conservative candidate Ben Wallace comfortably overturned Labour's tiny 2001 majority to secure a 4,171 victory over Labour's Anne Sacks.
Labour's slender 481 majority - the narrowest in Lancashire - was wiped away as the Tory vote held up while Labour's was split by shifts to the Liberal Democrats and Greens.
The Conservatives polled only 191 more votes than in 2001 but Labour's 18,095 votes was a plunge of 4,461 from that achieved by outgoing MP Hilton Dawson four years ago.
In contrast the Liberal Democrats enjoyed the biggest increase on the night, Stuart Langhorn polling 3,000 more votes than the Lib Dem's Liz Scott achieved in 2001.
The Greens also showed a strong increase in their vote, Jon Barry polling 2,278 votes, up by 683 from the last election.
Newly elected MP Ben Wallace claimed voters had been turned off by Labour "spin".
He said: "I feel delighted with the result. People wanted services and they were fed up of spin so they rejected it.
"Hopefully I can get under way as soon as possible to get those services delivered.
"I didn't think I would get in until about an hour before the result.
"I realise that Conservatives have to earn people's respect and earn their votes.
"The public are fed up with promises and want some action and they rejected Labour as a result of that.''
Mr Wallace paid tribute to outgoing MP Hilton Dawson, who decided to stand down at this election. He said: "Hilton Dawson made a first class community MP and I wish him all the best. I thank him for handing over the constituency in such a good state.''
Speaking shortly after the declaration at Garstang Leisure Centre at 3.40am, Mr Dawson himself was quick to blame Labour's slide on the Iraq war.
He said the result should send a clear message to Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Mr Dawson commented: "I think that our vote has been reduced by people's determination to show Tony Blair what they think about the war in Iraq and people have every right to do that. I hope that Tony Blair learns from this experience.''
Anne Sacks also said the war had been an issue in the campaign, adding: "I am extremely disappointed, but the people of Lancaster and Wyre have made their choice.''
Liberal Democrat Stuart Langhorn said: "We are delighted to have improved our share of the vote so significantly."
Green candidate Jon Barry said: "An extra 0.64% would have been nice, because we narrowly missed our deposit."
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Weather for Preston
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -6 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: -2 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
