THE CONSERVATIVES secured a resounding victory in this year's General Election for Thirsk, Malton and Filey with an even greater majority.

Kevin Hollinrake polled 27,545 votes - 52 per cent of the vote - compared to 20,167 secured by Ann McIntosh who was deselected by the local Conservative Association last year.

Labour's Alan Avery was second with 8,089 votes, Toby Horton, from UKIP, third with 7,805, while Liberal Democrat candidate Di Keal received 4,703 votes.

Chris Newsam, of the Green Party, polled 2,404 votes, Liberal Party candidate John Clark, gaining 1,127 votes and and anti-fracking campaigner Philip Tate, 692 votes.

Mr Hollinrake thanked everyone for their support and his parents who had set his ambition 'round the dining room table'.

"It has been a difficult time in the Association and I would like to thank Anne on behalf of the people she helped as well as the fine work she did for the farming industry," he added "Now it is time for unity, a time for move on.There have been some tough time, some good times but I don't see bad times ahead if we all work together."

Mr Hollinrake said that although local people were lucky to live in a beautiful part of the country there were times when they needed help and he was keen to see more investment in the area.

"I will help to get their voice heard because that is what politics is about, I am here to help people when things go wrong," he added.

"It is an honour, a great responsibility and a great privilege to represent Thirsk, Malton and Filey."

The result was announced at around 7.20am at Malton Community Sports Centre following a delay due to a verification discrepancy.

Mr Hollinrake has worked as an estate agent through most of his working life, and set up successful agency Hunters with business partner John Waterhouse in 1992.

The business now has 112 branches across the country.

Mr Hollinrake went to Easingwold School before studying physics at Sheffield Polytechnic. He is married to Nikky and they have four children aged between six and 17.

Labour's Alan Avery said by coming second they now had the opportunity for a good run in forthcoming county elections.

"The Labour party has seen an increase in support of 60 per cent which is an achievement by any standards," he added.

Toby Horton thanked his UKIP team for their support during the campaign as well as his wife Fiona.

"It has been a tremendous campaign with a lot of laughter and fun," he added.

"UKIP has also achieved third place which is reflected in a large part of England."

Chris Newsam said the Green Party had only been established locally six months ago and already he had achieved 2,400 votes.

"It is a fantastic achievement of our team and something we can certainly something we will be building on for the future."

Speaking later, Liberal Democrat candidate, Di Keal, said: "This is a disappointing result personally, but obviously reflects a national trend in voting patterns. The campaign was incredibly hard work, but it was great to meet so many people across the constituency.

"Locally, I am delighted to have retained my district council seat for Norton West and my Norton town council seat and it is an privilege to represent local people.

She added:"Both for the General Election and in the District Council elections I fought a hard, but honest campaign. Sadly in the district council elections other local candidates were less truthful in their approach to the electorate and should be ashamed of the tactics they employed.

"Nationally it is sad to see the Liberal Democrats lose so many talented and hard-working MPs who have contributed so much over many years to try to ensure that the UK is a fair and equitable society. It is however heartening to see so many people coming forward and joining the Liberal Democrats across the country and locally in Thirsk and Malton and I have every confidence that we will grow and remain an important force in national and local politics in the future".

The Liberal Party's John Clark said: "Having originally decided not intended to stand, our local supporters wanted to be given the chance to vote for us at national level.

"The result was as expected and considering we campaigned on a local level slightly better than it might have been."

Returning officer Simon Copley said the turn-out had been good, with around 51,000 voters, making up 68.32 per cent of the constituency.