On June 8 Labour increased its share of the vote in the Skipton and Ripon constituency by almost 11 per cent . Our vote rose from almost 10,000 in 2015 to 16,440 today.

The Tories still have a majority of almost 20,000 but the result, combined with recent good performances in local elections and the great rise in membership since 2015 shows that Labour is a growing force in what has for many years been a Tory stronghold. Labour has made its presence felt in some of the more remote Dales villages during the election campaing and we polled strongly in places like Skipton.  The Greens scarcely benefited from their pact with the Lib Dems, polling fewer votes than the Lib Dems did in 2015 and only just improving on their own performance in that election.  There was an increase in the turnout by 4,000 to 58,333 and the Tories increased their share of the vote by  seven per cent but we had the greater percentage gain and can look forward to building on this over the coming months and years, and showing that Labour is a real force in this area.  The full result was:

Andy BROWN
Green Party
3734

Jack RENDER
The Yorkshire Party
1539

Julian SMITH
The Conservative Party
36425 (ELECTED)

Alan WOODHEAD
Labour Party
16440

Turnout: 74.69%

Thanks to all who helped in the campaign – and also to those who helped in neighbouring – more marginal – constituencies.