'It's time to reinstall faith in the democratic process' says new Keighley MP

Robbie Moore, who has previously served on Northumberland County Council, said during his time campaigning he has spoken to Labour voters who are turning away from the party because of Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Moore told The Yorkshire Post: “The first thing that we have to get done is deliver on Brexit and reinstall the faith in the democratic process.

“There was a strong feeling on quite a few doors, that strong Labour voters that had voted Labour all their life are now not voting for Corbyn.

“I think we have had a clear message and the reality is that we have been the only party that is willing to respect that democratic referendum result in 2016.

“I look forward to representing Keighley and Ilkley."

Mr Moore won the seat with 48.1 per cent of the vote, giving him a majority of 2,218 votes.

Keighley’s turnout was at 72.46 per cent with 52,740 ballot papers verified.

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Mr Moore has served as a councillor on Northumberland County Council and Alnwick Country Council, living in Alnwick before moving to Ilkley in the summer.

He previously told The Yorkshire Post: “I moved here expecting the election to be in 2022, but Keighley is a straight fight, a two-party race.”

John Grogan, the Labour party candidate, lost the seat to the Conservatives, gaining 23,080, down from 24,066 in 2017. He said serving as the MP for Keighley had been the privilege of his life, adding: “It was a blast."

Mr Grogan had won the Keighley seat for Labour in 2017 with a majority of just 249, the eighth smallest majority in the country.

Mr Grogan said: “We pushed them close given the circumstances of the night. There are lessons for the national party to learn from, that being in the mainstream is absolutely essential, it can’t be more of the same in five years time.

“It will be a moment of reflection for the Labour party ahead. We need to remember that only as a broad church do we win."

The Liberal Democrats got 2,573 votes for Tom Franks, the Brexit Party gained 850 votes with Waqas Khan, Mark Barton from the Yorkshire Party received 667 while Matthew Rose of the Social Democratic Party had 132.

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Mr Moore said he will team up to continue working with the Conservative Shipley MP, Philip Davies, in a bid to create a new local authority covering both patches and breaking away from the Labour-dominated Bradford City Council.

Mr Moore said: “I will be campaigning to seriously look at pulling the constituency away from Bradford council with the neighbouring Shipley constituency.

“If you speak to anybody in Ilkley they feel they are being treated as a cash cow for Bradford council. And if you speak to people across the constituency, they are feeling that there is a real lack of investment coming from Bradford into the constituency.”

The newly elected MP highlighted the closure of Haworth tourist information centre, while Bradford’s centre remains open, despite receiving more visitors than Bradford.

One of the issues appearing to define the election in Keighley was the status of Airedale Hospital - which turned 50 this year - and its battle to build an incinerator.

Despite council approval of the construction of a controversial incinerator, Government minister Dr Therese Coffey suggested the plans would not go ahead earlier this year.

Speaking in the Commons Dr Coffey said that to achieve set recycling targets “additional residual waste energy capacity above that already planned to 2020 should not be needed.”