Tories claim marginal seat of Crewe and Nantwich

Dr Kieran Mullan is elected

Dr Keiran Mullan won the seat of Crew and Nantwich with a majority of over 8,000

The Tories have gained the marginal seat of Crewe and Nantwich with a majority of more than 8,000.

Dr Keiran Mullan took the seat from Labour's Laura Smith, receiving a total of 28,704 votes.

The last time the UK went to the polls in 2017 it became the country's eighth most marginal seat, held by Ms Smith with a majority of just 48.

Dr Mullan said Brexit was a key reason for his election to the seat where 60% people voted Leave.

He said: "[I am] proud of my team of volunteers who have been out there speaking to people and more proud of the people of Crewe and Nantwich who I think this morning have made it clear to everybody that we are a democracy in this country and if people vote for something, it is up to politicians to deliver it."

Edward Timpson said a Conservative majority government has the chance to "deliver"

The Conservatives also held Eddisbury, where new MP Edward Timpson secured a majority of 18,443 votes.

The seat was previously held by Antoinette Sandbach, who joined the Liberal Democrats after she was expelled from the Conservative party for rebelling against Boris Johnson in a bid to prevent a no-deal Brexit.

Posting on Twitter, she said: "Its been an honour and privilege to represent Eddisbury for the last four years.

"I could not vote for a deal which risks the break up of the UK, and that responsibility passes now to others."

Mr Timpson, who held the Crewe and Nantwich seat until 2017, said: "There is lots to do but first of all we need to get beyond Brexit.

"And we have now got the chance to deliver for the British people and make sure that Eddisbury really does reap the benefits from what lies ahead."

BBC News spoke to voters in Crewe ahead of the election to find out the issues that matter to them

Elsewhere in Cheshire, Fiona Bruce has been re-elected as the Conservative MP for Congleton, increasing her 2017 majority of 12,619 votes to 18,561.

Ms Bruce has been the constituency's MP since 2010, and the seat has been held by the Conservatives since it was created in 1983.

Analysis

Phil McCann, BBC North West political reporter

Crewe and Nantwich was always going to be tough for Labour to hold on to given they only had a majority of 48 votes and 60% of the constituency voted to Leave in the EU referendum.

The task was made all the more difficult without a totem issue to galvanise voters around, as they had in 2017 when local school funding cuts were announced months before the election.

But only the most pessimistic of Labour activists would have predicted the Conservatives would beat them by more than 8,000 votes.

The seat has tended to be marginal given the different nature of its two main settlements - with Crewe mostly voting Labour and Nantwich mostly voting Conservative.

Now it looks like the Tories have been able to firmly establish themselves in both - so it could take some massive changes on Labour's part and a lot of waiting before they're a force to be reckoned with there again.

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