BISHOP Auckland has been in Labour hands for the best part of a century but after securing only a 500 vote majority this time around, it is clear victory can no longer be taken for granted.

A seat of interest for the Conservatives but not officially classed as a target, it would likely be high up their list of winnable seats when the next election comes around – whenever that may be.

The June 8 election was Helen Goodman’s fourth victory in a row for a seat that she once may have felt fairly comfortable in. But this time around, she certainly did not expect the win to be a foregone conclusion, and she was proved right - despite an impressive showing by Labour across the country under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

By her own admission, the Bishop Auckland MP didn’t see the snap election coming, having believed Theresa May when she said there was no chance of one being called and so was left completely unprepared when the announcement was suddenly made.

She knew it would be a close fight with the Tories and the Conservative candidate Christopher Adams narrowed the gap significantly from 3,508 in 2015, to just 502.

However, it was not enough to break eight decades of Labour control of the constituency, which includes towns such as Spennymoor, Shildon and Barnard Castle along with surrounding villages and Bishop Auckland itself.

MS Goodman believes her strongest campaign to date and a dislike for the Conservative manifesto was what helped secure her place in the House of Commons once again.

“I really didn’t know which way it was going to go,” she says. “I knew it was going to be close. We ran a much better campaign in 2017 than in 2015 in terms of the variety.”

Several high profile Labour visitors made an appearance with shadow health minister Jonathan Ashworth and chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee Yvette Cooper both turning up to show their support.

And Ms Goodman joined Labour protesters in Shildon to shout about NHS cuts when Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was in town.

She achieved 48.1 per cent of the vote, a percentage only slightly down on when she first became an MP in 2005.

Although her original 10,000 majority has now dropped to just 500, she increased the number of votes she received.

“Labour used to get half the vote and the rest was split between the other parties,” she says.

“It is not as clear anymore. I actually got about 4,000 more votes than last time. A lot of people never dreamed of voting Tory but with Brexit and Ukip (which took about 7,000 votes in Bishop Auckland last time) this has now changed.

“I will be surprised if Parliament lasts the five years but I will also be surprised if there is another election in the next six months. We really need to get Brexit negotiations going now.

“They are so important, we have to get them right.

“Theresa May, foolishly, or whatever you want to call it, decided to call this completely unnecessary election and wasted two months when it could have been used much more productively.

“It has been absolutely calamitous.”

DURING the election, Ms Goodman campaigned against cuts to the NHS, in particular the potential downgrade of Darlington Memorial Hospital’s A&E and maternity services, ambulance response times and also on school budgets.

She was vocal about the need to get rid of zero hours contracts.

And while these issues are still on her radar, her main two priorities are ensuring there is a good deal for manufacturing in the Brexit negotiations and also protecting hill farmers.

“Obviously I am going to keep campaigning on the hospital,” she says. “Campaigning against cuts is what every Labour MP does."

On Brexit she adds: "A good deal will mean being able to export on the same terms as they can now. We have hundreds and thousands of people dependant on exporting in this area.”