IN THIRSK and Malton, Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake was re-elected with nearly 60 per cent of the vote.

Mr Hollinrake secured 33,572 votes out of 56,025 in the constituency. Labour candidate Alan Avery secured second place with 14,571, an increase on the 2015 election.

Di Keal of the Liberal Democrats got 3,859 votes, Mr Horton got 1,532, Martin Brampton of the Greens got 1,100, John Clark of the Liberal party got 753 and Independent candidate Philip Tate got 542.

The constituency recorded a huge turn-out of 71 per cent. The result was declared at about 5am at Malton Leisure and Sports Centre.

After the result was announced, he said in his speech “everything depends” on a good Brexit deal and said it was a key focus of the election.

He said: “I fear this evening the result is not as clear as we anticipated perhaps, when we called this election.

"That will add more complexity, more uncertainty in the minds of many businesses and that cannot be good. So it's hugely important now that we do move forward with the decision to leave the European Union, but we do it as quickly as possible and strike the best deal as possible.

"That has to be our priority - everything depends on it."

Former leading businessman Mr Hollinrake said he believed the overall the political situation could cause difficulties for business confidence because of the uncertainty. "If business feels uncertain about the future, they won't invest."

But Labour candidate Mr Avery said the main concerns of people in the constituency had been fracking and austerity.

He told Mr Hollinrake: "You were the only person who stood who wanted fracking in this constituency, the other six of us were against it. And you bear a grave responsibility, if anything were to go wrong."

Meanwhile, Di Keal's husband, Howard, who himself had fought the seat two elections previously, said it was a disappointing result for the party.

He added: “Di has probably done more for the people of this area than all the other candidates put together. It is a travesty that she did not succeed."