JUBILANT Tories were celebrating in the foot and mouth-ravaged Ribble Valley after Nigel Evans held on to his parliamentary seat for a third term.

But the victorious Welshman said farmers had turned their backs on the election in protest at being sidelined by politicians during the campaign.

The 43-year-old vice chairman of the Conservative Party nearly doubled his majority.

But there was a marked decline in turnout compared to the General Election of 1997 -- 66.4 per cent compared to 78.6 per cent -- which Mr Evans blamed on the area's foot and mouth crisis.

He said: "A lot of farmers in the Ribble Valley couldn't give a stuff about the election. They just want to get on with farming. They feel aggrieved that they have been sidelined during the election.

"Added to that is the mix-up over postal votes as well as a general alienation from the democratic system among the general public."

Mr Evans returned to Parliament for his third stint as MP with 25,308 votes -- 1,000 less than he polled in 1997.

He said it would now be interesting to see if the rumoured major cull would take place in a bid to eradicate foot and mouth, which has now been found on 21 local farms, after concern it had been held back until after the election.

Liberal Democrat Michael Carr fell nearly 6,000 behind his 1997 tally, polling 14,070 votes. The father-of-eight, who won the infamous Ribble Valley by-election of 1991 after overturning a 20,000 Tory majority with an anti poll tax vote, was keeping tight-lipped on whether he would stand as a prospective parliamentary candidate in the area again.

The Labour vote at 9,793, was marginally more than four years ago. Marcus Johnstone also expressed concern about the turnout but said it was an exciting night for Labour, which faced a second-term of office. In his victory speech Nigel Evans called on Tony Blair's government to put foot and mouth at the very top of the political agenda and promised to do his upmost to serve the Ribble Valley as its MP.