THE Pendle MP who romped home to a second term of office at Westminster in the General Election today confessed he was staggered by his party's landslide victory.

Labour's Gordon Prentice saw his majority rocket from 2,113 to 10,824, the largest ever winning margin in the Pendle seat and the Nelson and Colne constituency before it.

Mr Prentice said the election was "a watershed for the nation" and the next five years would be "exciting and memorable".

He was in London today at the first meeting of the new Parliamentary Labour Party.

Meanwhile, political rival Damian Hockney was celebrating the highest percentage vote of any of the 67 Referendum Party candidates in the North West - 2,281 votes, or 4.85 per cent of the total.

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