CONGRATULATIONS to Alison McGovern on her election win in Wirral South.

More importantly, my thanks to Wirral South residents.

I have enjoyed engaging with you over the past 28 months.

It really has been a pleasure. Also, many thanks to my hard-working Team who enabled me to get our message out to all parts of Wirral South.

Unfortunately, as we feared, the Liberal Democratic vote collapsed from 6,611 to 1,474 and went to Labour assisted by a three-fold increase in UKIP vote from 1,274 to 3,737 which came off our potential vote.

This accounts for all of the increased Labour majority.

The good news, of course, is that we have a majority Conservative Government which, ironically, will now protect the Wirral and the UK from what would have been the catastrophe of the Miliband / Balls outdated, anti-business policies, supported by the very Labour MPs Wirral has just elected.

John Bell, Wirral South Conservative candidate.