YORK OUTER: Emotional end to a fierce fight for prized new seat

The Tory candidate, Julian Sturdy, picked up a 3,688 majority in the newly-created seat, identified by his party as the third most important constituency to win.

The triumph left the Liberal Democrats distraught as they failed to capture the fiercely-contested seat, in what proved to be a hugely disappointing General Election for the party.

The Lib Dem candidate, Madeleine Kirk, who won more than a third of all votes cast, was too upset to speak to the media after the result was announced just before 4.30am yesterday.

Mr Sturdy won 22,912 votes compared to Mrs Kirk's 19,224, following an impressive 71 per cent turn-out, representing a 3.7 per cent swing from the Liberal Democrats to the Conservatives.

While York Outer is a newly- created constituency, estimates suggested that the Liberal Democrats would have held a wafer-thin majority of just 203 votes if the seat had existed for the 2005 General Election.

After he was elected, Mr Sturdy promised to pursue three key issues which had been repeatedly flagged up by constituents during his election campaign.

He vowed to protect NHS services, preserve the greenbelt around York and improve the city's infrastructure with better rail and bus services.

However, he admitted that swingeing public sector cuts now expected to be imposed to cut the nation's massive deficit in the wake of the recession presented a major obstacle to achieving his aims.

He also accepted that a hung Parliament meant that he could be faced with another election battle within a matter of months.

Mr Sturdy said: "No-one said it is going to easy, but I have been elected by the people of York Outer and I intend to serve their interests.

"I am delighted that the public have put their trust in me for the next four years, or for however long the next Parliament lasts.

"I cannot make any promises, but we have got to have a long-term plan for York.

"The local councillors and local MPs need to draw up this long-term vision so that the MPs can take it down to Westminster and deliver."

Mrs Kirk spoke of her bitter disappointment at not having been elected when she gave an address on stage. She said: "York is a wonderful place to live. I have lived here for 30 years and I have brought up my family here, and I do not know anywhere in the UK or the world where I would rather live. I would have loved to have had the chance to represent York in Parliament, but that was not to be."

While Labour's candidate, James Alexander, came in third with 9,108 votes, he nonetheless now has a key role to play in York's political scene. He was named as the new leader of York Council's Labour group earlier in the week after his predecessor, David Scott, was ousted during an annual general meeting.

Mr Alexander claimed that the electorate had turned their back on the Liberal Democrats in both of York's constituencies, and was confident that Labour would show strongly in next year's local elections.

While Mr Alexander admitted that he was disappointed by the result, he claimed that he had picked up a "solid vote" after engaging with the electorate on key issues such as the economy.