CONSERVATIVE candidate Stephen O'Brien retained his Eddisbury seat, increasing his lead over Labour by nearly 1,000 votes.

Mr O'Brien polled more than 46% of the vote to keep the seat he first won in a by-election in 1999. He increased his tally from 20,556 in 2001 to 21,181 on Thursday night, finishing more than 6,000 votes ahead of nearest challenger, Labour's Mark Green, who polled 14,986. Labour's share of the vote dropped by 3.2% on last time.

Third place went to Jo Crotty of the Liberal Democrats with 8,182 (17.9% share), while Stephen Roxborough, UK Independence Party, polled 1,325.

Speaking at the count, Mr O'Brien thanked the returning officer's staff and paid tribute to everyone who had worked at polling stations across the constituency.

Headded:'I wouldliketopay tributetotheother candidates, all three of them who have conducted a very fair and courteous campaign here in Eddisbury.'

Mr O'Brien dedicated his victory to John Posnett, former chairman and president of the Eddisbury Conservative Association, who was killed in a car crash three weeks beforehand.

He said: 'He was a great enthusiast for Conservatism and for democracy.'

Mr 'Brien added: 'I rededicate myself to all the electorate of Eddisbury, those who voted for me, those who voted for the other candidates, and those who didn't vote at all. I am delighted and honoured to have the opportunity to serve them again.'

Labour candidate Mr Green said: 'Obviously I am disappointed to lose because my view is that Eddisbury and Winsford would benefit greatly from having a Labour MP, but that's not to be and the people have spoken.

'I am pleased that Labour has been re-elected to Government so that we can continue our programme of improvements. I would like to see the good work that has been done in Northwich around the Northwich Vision replicated in the Winsford Masterplan, and we really need to ramp that up and make sure we get Government support and bring everything together.

'There's an awful lot going for Winsford in particular and even if I'm not the MP I would like to bring all the developments to reality. The Labour Party is still the largest party in Winsford with the majority of councillors at town, borough and county level, and I am committed to doing the best I can for the area - just because I didn't win doesn't mean I am not going to be around.'

Turnout was described as 'brisk', but in the end fell by 1% on 2001's figure, though the actual number of votes cast was up.