THE UK’S newest MP says she is looking forward to “knuckling down to some hard work” after triumphing in North Yorkshire’s delayed General Election poll.

Anne McIntosh, who represented the old Vale of York constituency in Westminster before boundary changes came into force, had a three-week wait to learn her political fate after the death of a candidate meant the poll for the new Thirsk and Malton seat had to be postponed.

But she swept the Conservatives to victory with 20,167 votes when the area’s voters went to the polls on Thursday, giving her a majority of 11,281 over her Liberal Democrat rival Howard Keal, who pushed Labour’s Jonathan Roberts into third place.

The election was delayed from May 6 following the death of UKIP candidate John Boakes during the campaign, with his replacement, Toby Horton, winning 2,502 votes.

“I’m obviously delighted and relieved because it’s been a very long campaign,” said Ms McIntosh, who has been an MP since 1997.

“To lose a candidate during the campaign was a shock to everybody and we all understood why the election had to be delayed as a mark of respect to John Boakes, who was very well-loved in the area.

“Now my first priority will be to get my feet under the table and knuckle down to some hard work, carry on the work I have done in the Vale of York and also carry on the work of John Greenway, who was an outstanding Ryedale MP.

“The extended campaign has allowed me to become more familiar with the issues which matter in such a vast constituency. Farming and the countryside are two areas which have been overlooked and I also want to concentrate on the delivery of public services and flooding schemes, such as the Pickering pilot project.”