Delighted Andrew Jones focused on local issues as he is once again elected to represent Harrogate and Knaresborough

After hearing the result at Harrogate Convention Centre at just after 2pm, Mr Jones said he was delighted to be MP once more.

Mr Jones, who had been campaigning since 6.30am, said it was a "great honour" to have been chosen to represent Harrogate and Knaresborough again.

He said, although politics had become increasingly nasty at a national level, in Harrogate it had been the "friendliest" atmosphere he had encountered in all of his four election wins.

Mr Jones said: "It was an odd election in some ways with Christmas trees up but the reception I found was the warmest I have experienced. The response on the doorstep has been the warmest I have known.

"One or two people did ask me why I wasn't talking about Brexit. But we have done nothing but talk about it for two years. The backdrop of course has been the parliamentary impasse, the deadlock that has caused so many problems.

"Everyone already knew my views on the subject. I let the national campaign deal with that while I focused on the local issues that matter to people here."

General Election 2019 LIVE blog from the Harrogate & Knaresborough count

The former rail minister's vote tally of 29,962 was slightly down on the last General Election in 2017 when he achieved a majority of 18,168 with 31, 477 votes.

For the Lib Dems, Judith Roberson received 20,287 votes, compared to the Lib Dems' total of 13, 309 in 2017, cutting the majority to 9,675.

General Election 2019 live results and reaction from Harrogate district and across the country

Labour candidate Mark Seward's failed to capitalise on his strong performance last time when he had won more than 20% of the vote with 11,395 as he picked up 5,480 this time.

Yorkshire Party hopeful Kieron George received 1,208 votes.