Victory for Conservatives as Nigel Evans wins Ribble Valley seat again

The Conservative MP, who was represented the constituency for the past 25 years, received 31,919 votes.

After a strong showing from the Labour candidate David Hinder, who increased his party's vote to 18720 - up from 11,798 in the 2015 election, Mr Evans saw his majority fall from 13,606 to 13,199.

Allan Knox (Liberal Democrats) polled 3,247, while Green Party candidate Graham Sowter lost his deposit of £500 after receiving only 1,314 votes.

Once the results were announced, Mr Evans slammed Theresa May's manifesto, declaring it was worst Conservative manifesto that he had ever fought an election on. He said: "I want to say this - in all the years that I've fought parliamentary elections, this was the worst Conservative manifesto that I've ever fought an election on. We went into this campaign with a very clear lead and there was a seismic change when we embarked upon what I will call a full frontal assault on our poll support. We started talking about things that people have become disinterested in and we have to learn a lesson."

Meanwhile, pleased with the votes Labour polled, Mr Hinder said: "I'm in a slightly different position to Nigel - we were given no chance in this election, with people saying we shouldn't even be considering second place. We've confounded them wrong and the way we've done that is the way the party has fought nationally. We've fought a united campaign - we haven't criticised our leadership, we haven't pulled ourselves to pieces, either before or after the election result and that's the way we should be going on and the way we work within the Labour party."

Mr Knox thanked his supporters and campaigners, while Mr Sowter expressed his disappointment at votes polled by the Green Party in the Ribble Valley saying: It's a disappointment to me that Green issues, which are the most important issues we face moving into the future. We polled a thousand less votes than we did two years ago, but that's politics and I've been around long enough to know that you just have to bear these losses when they come."

Turnout: 71%

The number of ballots spoiled was 163.