DEFEATED Weaver Vale Parliamentary candidate John Stockton says he will win the seat back for Labour if battle is waged in a second General Election.

Just 991 votes separated Halton Brook councillor Mr Stockton – who retained his borough council seat hours after losing the fight for the constituency – and Conservative victor Graham Evans MP, but the 54-year-old former Labour secretary is ready if the Government coalition fails.

“We could have another election in six to 12 months and we need to make sure we can succeed nationally as well as locally,” he said.

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work but we won’t give up, I know we can win it.

“We had a very positive campaign with all the troops and activists but only seven weeks to run the campaign.

“With three to six months we could have taken that seat.

“We did partially challenge the count and at one point it looked as if we would win but there was a sudden surge for the Conservatives.

“We had more people on the doorsteps and we nearly took the seat against the national trend, the turnout was up by nearly 10%.

“We are looking forward to fighting for it again.”