NOW that the General Election is over I would like to congratulate John Greenway on his victory and wish him the best of luck for his next term as Ryedale's MP.

Labour did well in Ryedale. At a time when the Labour vote declined by six per cent nationally, it was one of the few constituencies in the whole country in which it actually increased.

We received 9,148 votes, which is up a massive 41 per cent on 2001's result of 6,470.

I should like to thank the voters in Ryedale for their growing support.

I spoke with hundreds of people and learnt a lot from this campaign, information which I will be feeding back over the next few weeks to party HQ when I meet them to discuss the issues raised.

We've proved that Labour does care about Ryedale, and you can rest assured that we will be building on our success in the future.

I am particularly excited about the forthcoming "York Outer" seat - created at the next General Election - which will contain many of the Outer York villages currently in the Ryedale seat.

Having spoken to many people there during the campaign, I am convinced that the mess the Lib Dems made of the York council - with their parking charges and whopping council tax increases - contributed to their plummeting support in the seat. It leads me to think that after the next General Election York will have not just one, but two Labour MPs.

Thanks also to the Evening Press for fair, balanced and highly readable coverage of the campaign.

Coun Paul Blanchard,

Former Labour candidate

for Ryedale,

Heworth Mews, York.

Updated: 10:49 Tuesday, May 10, 2005