LABOUR retained their seat in the key marginal seat of South Ribble with a 3,802 majority.

David Borrow was returned to Parliament with 21,386 votes.

It was a huge relief for Mr Borrow as many had predicted that the seat could have fallen back to the Conservatives.

The Tories had held the seat since the constituency was created in 1983 until the last general election in 1997.

Mr Borrow joined the Labour Party in 1969. As a local man he has lived in Preston since 1975 where he was the council leader before being elected to Parliament. In his victory speech he felt he had now arrived as an MP. He said: "When I was elected the last time people told me that you don't feel like a real MP until you get elected for a second term. I feel that very strongly now."

In CALDER VALLEY, which takes in Todmorden, Labour's Christine McCafferty clung on her to seat, but saw her share of the vote fall by 3.4 per cent in a constituency which had a turnout of 63 per cent.

In BURY NORTH, including Ramsbottom, Labour man David Chaytor kept his seat, suffering only a slight reduction in share of vote as he polled 22,945 in a constituency which had a 63 per cent turnout.