ON A record night for the Conservative Party, candidate Philip Dunne was re-elected with a record majority for the Ludlow seat.

Mr Dunne took 32,185 votes of the 50,484 that were cast, with his closest competitor being Liberal Democrat Heather Kidd with 8,537, followed by Labour Party candidate Kuldip Sahota.

The re-election of the Conservative candidate was part of an historic night in British politics as the party secured an overall majority.

Mr Dunne was quick to give his thanks to those who turned out to vote for him on Thursday.

He said: “I’d like to thank my team for the work they have put into what has been an historic night for people in Ludlow and south Shropshire.

“We’ve had a record turnout of voters, a record majority, and increased our majority by more than 4,000 votes.

“It’s a marvellous tribute to all the hard work of the people in the constituency to support the Conservatives and to get out and vote.

“It’s been an extraordinary night and a huge contrast to the 2017 General Election.

“The Conservative Party is back with a bigger majority than we’ve had in recent times and certainly in my political lifetime.

“Now we can look forward to delivering what we promised to people as a result of the referendum and get Brexit done.

“We can then focus on our other priorities and push on to make sure the region gets its fair share of the resources available.”

Labour Party candidate Mr Sahota said the result did not come as a shock, with the Ludlow seat long being held by the Conservative Party.

He said: “Ludlow has long been a Conservative seat, and I think this time round people have just stuck to the three words Boris Johnson said which were ‘get Brexit done’.

“Whether he’ll do it by the time he says he will, who knows, but Brexit was the theme of course.

“We’ll just have to see what happens now and whether their social policy will allow more money to be given to councils across the country.

“I enjoyed myself in Ludlow for the campaign, I thought it was a good campaign overall.”