IT was a good night for Labour's Anna Turley in Redcar when she retained her seat after she secured more than 50 per cent of the votes.

The Conservative candidate, Peter Gibson more than doubled the party's count and moved from a lowly fourth place to distant second.

However, it was a wretched night for Liberal Democrat Josh Mason whose polling mirrored his party's national performance by seeing his 7,558 votes in 2015 reduced to 2,849 in the early hours of Friday morning.

And Ukip's Chris Gallacher remained upbeat about his party's long term future despite losing more than 5,000 votes from his 2015 total.

Ms Turley, who was a vocal opponent of her party's leader Jeremy Corbyn, was heckled during her victory speech by Momentum supporters who were at the count supporting the party's Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland candidate.

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However, she said the people in the town have shown their support for her and it was now time to get back to London and restart her work for residents.

"I'm really chuffed, in fact I'm absolutely ecstatic with the result," she said. "We didn't have a great deal of time to prepare for this election by we have worked so hard on the doorstep and that work has paid off.

"The voters have shown their trust in me and it is time for me to repay their faith and get the best results that I can for everyone in the Redcar area.

"It's time to get back to London and start working on a better future for everyone in the country."

Conservative Peter Gibson remained bullish after he saw the party's vote go up by more than 7,500.

He said: "The party has made significant inroads in the town and it shows that we are alive and well in the town. We have more than doubled our votes and we will be able to build on that."

Mr Mason, who is the Liberal Democrat group leader on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, remained buoyant despite the early indications that he hadn't fared well.

He said: "We have been the victim of a political squeeze – which has been the same all over the country. I love elections and although I am disappointed, I will be back again."

Mr Gallacher said Ukip would need to regroup and come back with a plan to move it forward.

Speaking before the result was announced, he said: "We are not going anywhere, we need some fresh faces and a fresh attitude to take us forward."