COLNE VALLEY: Investment pays off for Tories with victory in Pennine seats

Mr McCartney, 42, a former RAF officer turned Calendar presenter for ITV Yorkshire and lecturer, took 20,440 votes, leaving both the Lib Dem and Labour candidates trailing by about 5,000 votes apiece.

The Colne Valley constituency was a major target for the Tories as it invested time and money in Yorkshire seats – including Pudsey, Keighley and Calder Valley, which Labour held since 1997.

Altogether the three main parties' leaders made seven visits to the seat.

Mr McCartney's victory was seen as an important milestone as the seat was listed in the top 25 target sets by Conservative head office.

Liberal Democrat Nicola Turner, a married mother of four who lives in Golcar, Huddersfield, came second in Colne Valley.

Mrs Turner, who runs a family business manufacturing CCTV cameras in Sowerby Bridge, took 15,603 votes and Labour's Debbie Abrahams, 45, born in Sheffield, was third on 14,589.

BNP candidate Barry Fowler polled 1,893 votes.

Colne Valley has changed hands between the parties on several occasions and was considered a three-way marginal and has been held by each of the three major parties in the last 30 years.

The semi-rural constituency was taken by Tory Graham Riddick in 1987 but has been in Labour hands since 1997. Labour's Kali Mountford stepped down for health reasons.

Mr McCartney, a father-of-two, was previously a member of the Liberal Democrat Party.

He said the issue of immigration had played a large part in the campaign, as well as local issues such as the state of the roads and dog fouling.

"Our robust policy on immigration was a plus-point on the doorstep.

"From Marsden to Lindley, to the Holme valley, even one of the imams in Crosland Moor said 'Jason, there is too many people coming here'.

"It's not a race issue, it's purely a numbers issue."

Health also played a significant role with Mr McCartney, who was in place as a candidate last year, campaigning to restore full maternity services in Huddersfield.

He also said that women were voting with their feet and opting to give birth outside the town to avoid the risk of travelling if complications arose.

Debbie Abrahams, a former chairman of Rochdale Primary Care Trust who now works for the NHS in Leeds, thanked candidates for running a "fairly positive campaign".

Turnout was 69.4 per cent – an increase on the 2005 figure of 66 per cent.