CONSERVATIVE candidate Sir George Young stormed to his biggest ever win in the North West Hampshire constituency by taking almost 60 per cent of the votes cast in the 6 May election.

Sir George, polled 31,072 votes (58.3 Per cent) to 12,489 for Lib/Dem candidate Tom McCann, Labour’s Sarah Evans in third place on 6,980 and UKIP’s Stan Oram with 2,751.

Clearly pleased with his personal triumph the re-elected MP said: “I’m delighted to have increased my vote from 26,000 to 31,000 and enjoyed a swing from the Liberal Democrats and Labour when I have lost some villages to redistribution.

“I’m very grateful for all those who voted for me and I pledge to work hard for everyone in the constituency regardless of politics.”

He said it was too early to say much about the national picture, but as a potential leader of the house he will need all his skills and long experience to deal with a hung parliament.

He is one of the few still in the House of Commons who was there are the time of the last hung parliament in the mid 1970s.

Defeated second place candidate Tom McCann, agreed that Sir George is an effective roadblock preventing others winning this seat.

He said: “We have shown that we are a credible alternative and have campaigned on local issues such as Sunday bus services, shops and post offices, but we need to be a bit more sophisticated in getting our message across.

“Nationally Nick Clegg has broken through the glass ceiling that previously held us back so that there is now a gaping hole in it.”

Labour candidate Sarah Evans saw her vote fall in line with the anti-government swing despite her high profile campaigns to save the Andover Guildhall and set up a town council for Andover.

UKIP candidate Stan Oram had the satisfaction of saving his deposit by polling just over five per cent of the vote – one of the best UKIP performances of the night.