DONCASTER: Miliband pledges support for current leadership as Winterton keeps seat

Yorkshire Minister Rosie Winterton won Doncaster Central despite an 8.7 per cent swing to the Tories.

Environment Minister Ed Miliband – tipped as a possible successor to Gordon Brown – won with a comfortable 10,909 majority in his Doncaster North seat.

Tory hopeful for Doncaster North, Sophie Brodie lost out to Mr Miliband, who gained 19,637 votes with Miss Brodie in second with 8,725 votes and the Liberal candidate, Ed Sanderson in third with 6,174.

Miss Brodie, who was standing for election as an MP for the first time, said: "One of my main things was trying to encourage people to feel connected. I got involved because of the expenses scandal. I was very upset by the expenses scandal and the way people were behaving.

"I had a small swing and we increased our vote. I was delighted to give a voice to a greater number of people in the area. I was equally delighted that across Doncaster there was an even greater swing. In Doncaster Central we moved from third into second place and significantly reduced the majority for Rosie Winterton."

In Doncaster North, there was a 2.8 per cent swing from Labour to the Conservatives in the Labour stronghold.

Mrs Winterton, the Yorkshire Minister, won a majority of more than 6,000 in a turnout of 57.36 per cent, in Doncaster Central.

Tory candidate Gareth Davies cut her majority by more than 3,000 after winning 10,340 votes.

Mr Miliband, along with his brother David, the Foreign Secretary, has been hotly tipped as the party's next leader but directly after the count he refused to be drawn on the issue and pledged to support the party's current hierarchy.

Mr Miliband rose rapidly through the party to become one of then-Chancellor Mr Brown's confidants and became chairman of the Treasury's council of economic advisers.