A top Tory has explained how his party has lost the formerly safe seat of Selby and Ainsty to the Labour Party.

Under former MP Nigel Adams, the Conservatives held the seat with a majority of over 20,000 on three-fifths of the vote.

However, their candidate, barrister and East Yorkshire councillor Claire Holmes, lost to 25-year-old Labour candidate Keir Mather by more than 4,000 votes.

READ MORE:

Tory chairman Greg Hands, who visited Selby during the campaign to lend his support, said his party’s defeat in Selby and Ainsty was mainly driven by Conservative voters staying home.

He told GB News: “Clearly we’re disappointed by the result in Selby and Ainsty. We had a fantastic candidate in Claire Holmes.

“What I would say is that result was driven largely by Conservative voters, previous Conservative voters, staying home.

“Clearly we’ve got work to do to win back the trust and confidence, we don’t deny that.

“Rishi Sunak has been in office now for nine months working very hard against the five priorities of halving inflation, restoring growth, reducing debt, cutting hospital waiting lists and stopping the boats. That is still work in progress.

“We’ll be fighting hard to regain that constituency next year.”