Success for Craig as Calder Valley stays blue

Mr Whittaker received 23,354 votes - 2957 more than he did in the 2010 General Election - with a voter turnout of 67.3 per cent.

The seat fell to the Conservatives in 2010, following the retirement of Labour’s Christine McCafferty.

There was wild applause when Mr Whittaker’s winning share of the vote was announced.

Labour’s Josh Fenton-Glynn received 18,927 votes and UKIP’s Paul Rogan came in third place with 5,950 votes.

Liberal Democrat candidate Alisdair Calder McGregor followed with 2,666.

Jenny Shepherd secured 2090 votes for the Green Party, Yorkshire First’s Rod Sutcliffe received 389 votes and Joe Stead, representing his party World Peace Through Song, received 165 votes.

Speaking after his victory, Mr Whittaker said his victory showed a rejection of Labour by the electorate.

“A huge and big thank you to the wonderful constituents of the Calder Valley who have made their voices heard loud and clear and have increased our share of the vote by four per cent.

“They clearly do not want the regressive policies of an out of of date and out of touch Labour Party, they see through their lies and they see through their petty politics and and I thank each and every one of them for putting their faith in me for a second term,

“It has been an honour and privilege to represent the Calder Valley and it’’s going to be an honour and privilege to represent it for another five years.”

Calderdale Council leader Stephen Baines (Con, Northowram and Shelf) added: “I think it’s excellent, he’s a brilliant MP and I’m positive he will continue working hard for the Calder Valley and make the difference.

“I’m absolutely confident he will continue to work do something about Todmorden High School.

“It’s very positive for Calderdale.”

Labour’s Josh Fenton-Glynn said he would continue to work for the Calder Valley.

“I’m proud of the campaign, I think ultimately I won’t stop caring about the people of the Calder Valley.

“I’d like to thank the people of the Calder Valley and all those people who voted for me.

“It’s about making a difference in our communities.”

He added he would continue to fight against the bedroom tax, would fight for better train and transport services and for Todmorden High School and Calder High School, which both missed out on much-needed rebuild funding in the £2 billion Priority Schools Building Programme 2 (PSBP2).

Green Party candidate Jenny Shepherd added: “We’ve more than doubled our share of our vote.

“It’s a good result”