LINDSAY Hoyle, who swept into Parliament on the New Labour tide in May 1997, was on the crest of a wave again when he secured another term as MP for Chorley with a majority of 8,444 over Conservative candidate Peter Booth, slightly down on the last election.

It was the icing on the birthday cake -- he's 44 this Sunday -- for the deputy council leader of the town.

Mr Hoyle won Chorley from Conservative Den Dover, now a North West Euro MP, at the last General Election. Yesterday's 63.43 per cent turnout was well down on the 77 per cent of four years ago.

The former Chorley mayor had a number of successes in his first term, including securing extra funding for the town's hospital, saving the Territorial Army centre and initiating a government investigation into car prices.

And Mr Hoyle confessed to having some anxious moments before clinching victory, the result being announced at around 2.20am. He described it as an "historic" win in that labour had secured a second term of Government for the first time.

He said: "I am pleased people have put their trust in me to serve them in Westminster.

"I can't think of anything else I would rather do than this job, representing the town where I was born and brought up."

He added that the new Government would continue to strive to improve public services, health, education and crime reduction.

Mr Hoyle is the son of former Warrington Doug Hoyle and has held a number of Parliamentary positions, including: Member of the Trade and Industry Select Committee; Vice-Chairman and Backbench Defence Committee. Conservative candidate Peter Booth blamed a negative campaign by the party's national leadership for his defeat.

He said: "We should have concentrated on the positive policies we stand for but instead got sucked in to a tit-for-tat negative campaign with Labour. But I have enjoyed campaigning in Chorley and would like to thank all my team who have worked very hard. Although at the moment my future is uncertain I hope to fight for a parliamentary seat again."