The Wrekin General Election results: Mark Pritchard to serve fourth term

Mr Pritchard said he was “thrilled and humbled” to be re-elected with a very large majority.

The Conservative received 27,454 votes, nearly 10,000 more than Labour’s candidate Dylan Harrison.

Labour had 17,887 votes, while UKIP’s Denis Allen received 1,656 votes, Lib Dem Rod Keyes 1,345 votes, 804 for Pat McCarthy of the Green Party and 380 for independent Fay Easton.

The turnout was 72.35%, compared to 68.9% during the last General Election.

Mr Pritchard said his aims now was to return to fighting for the Princess Royal Hospital and to bring high paid jobs to the area.

He said he wanted to focus on getting Shropshire on the map and increasing tourism.

“I’m thrilled but also humbled I’ve been re-elected for a record fourth term for The Wrekin,” he said.

“I’ve also been re-elected with a very large majority - this is the second largest majority in the history of the seat.

“I look forward to getting back to work representing all of the people of the Wrekin.

“My top priority now is Princess Royal Hospital and the associated accident and emergency unit.

“I will continue making sure we expand defence jobs and service jobs in the area, getting higher paid jobs into the area and thirdly I want to try to do more getting Shropshire on the map with tourism.

“We can do more on a local and national level.”

Mr Harrison said that the campaign have been one of the best experiences of his life.

“I’m feeling good, overall very positive,” he said.

“We’ve increased our share of the votes massively. It seems the UKIP votes have come to us and we’ve picked up a huge number of votes from young people and ethnic minorities have voted for us massively.

“We had a lot of votes and I think we can be proud of the campaign we’ve run.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this campaign. It’s been one of the best experiences of my career, and of my life, and I’d be happy to have another go of it.”

Among the candidates was independent Ms Easton, who said she’s found the process “very uplifting”.

“It’s been the hardest 40 days of my life,” she said.

“It’s been uplifting and terrifying in equal measure.

“It’s been illuminating to see how politics works from this side of things.

“I’ve been quite shocked by the intensity of the separation between all the parties, which we all know but when you’re at the front line you feel it very acutely.

“It’s a very lonely business.

“The good thing about being independent is you don’t have to tow a party line.

“You don’t have to justify a policy that you don’t have any faith in.

“I think that must be difficult if you’re faced with that. I’ve had the joy of being able to say what I think is right.”

“The support from the public had been what’s been most uplifting for me.

“I’ve had notes from people I’ve never met saying they love what I’m saying.”

Mr McCarthy, for the Green Party, said: “I’ve been a councillor for seven years but this has been a bit more intense.”

2017 Results

Mark Pritchard (Con) 27,451

Dylan Harrison (Lab) 17,887

Denis Allen (Ukip) 1,656

Rod Keyes (Lib) 1,345

Pat McCarthy (Green) 804

Fay Easton (Ind) 380

Turnout: 72.15%

Previous results:

2015: MARK PRITCHARD (CON) - 22,579 Katrina Gilman (Lab) - 11,836 Jill Seymour (Ukip) - 7,620 Rod Keyes (Lib Dem) - 1,959 Cath Edwards (Green) - 1,443 CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY - 10,743

2010: MARK PRITCHARD (CON) - 21,922 Paul Kalinauckas (Lab) - 12,472 Alyson Cameron-Daw (Lib Dem) - 8,019 Malcolm Hurst (Ukip) - 2,050 Susan Harwood (BNP) - 1,505 CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY - 9,450

2005: MARK PRITCHARD (CON) - 18,899 Peter Bradley (Lab) - 17,957 Bill Tomlinson (Lib Dem) - 6,608 Bruce Lawson (Ukip) - 1,590 CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY - 942

2001: PETER BRADLEY (LAB) - 19,532 Jacob Rees-Mogg - 15,945 Ian Jenkins (Lib Dem) - 4,738 Denis Brookes (Ukip) - 1,275 LABOUR MAJORITY - 3,587