Labour wins first seat to be declared

Bridget Phillipson held on to the seat for Labour as her victory was greeted with loud cheers at a tennis centre in Sunderland.

She secured 19,137 votes, with Conservative candidate Robert Oliver second with 8,147.

With a turn-out of 55.32 per cent, 38,021 votes were counted and declared within 50 minutes of the polls closing.

Despite the Labour victory, the result showed a notional 8.44 per cent swing from Labour to the Conservatives.

Liberal Democrat candidate Chris Boyle was third with 5,292 votes, ahead of Colin Wakefield, an independent, on 2,462.

The BNP's Karen Allen polled 1,961 votes, with UKIP's Richard Elvin receiving 1,022.

Sunderland City Council has become renowned for its speedy counts – and has now been first to declare in the past five general elections.

Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman played down the swing towards the Tories in the seat.

She said: "I think it's really invidious to read too much into it. It's one result."

Ms Phillipson said she was happy with the "strong campaign" Labour had run in the seat.