LABOUR'S Gordon Prentice won a fourth term as Pendle MP, but saw his narrow majority slashed in half.

Mr Prentice mirrored the sentiments of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and said he felt 'humbled' after winning by just 2,180 votes.

Throughout the count he appeared to be neck and neck with his Conservative opponent Jane Ellison.

The Conservatives were confident of victory but the line of red votes inched out in front and Miss Ellison conceded defeat graciously.

She said: "I extend my congratulations to Gordon, he won a fair fight. As he has said, our views are diametrically opposite but I hope he goes back to Parliament to give Tony Blair a hard time for another five years."

Mr Prentice said: "I would like to thank the other candidates, in particular my Conservative opponent, Jane Ellison who I think has fought a very fair fight and would have made an excellent Conservative MP."

But it was the Liberal Democrats who were really celebrating as their share of the vote went up by 9.4 per cent with 9,528 votes. Candidate Shazad Anwar vowed he would be back at the next General Election to fight again for Pendle.

He said: "This is a fantastic result for us. It is our highest polling in Pendle and year on year we are becoming a real force in Pendle.

"This is a real building block for us in the future."

The BNP showed they were making inroads as well as their votes went up from 1,976 in 2001 to 2,547.

But it was a disappointing evening for UKIP candidate Graham Cannon who polled just 737, compared to his 1,094 last time out.