ELECTION - Pendle

LABOUR'S landslide swept Pendle's Gordon Prentice back into Westminster with a five-fold increase in his majority.

The quietly-spoken Scot who has made Barnoldswick his home admitted his result was astonishing.

He secured a second term as MP with an increase of nine per cent in his share of the vote while the Tory vote plummeted by 7,000. And he declared that the country had shown the Tories were mortal.

"They'd been in power so long they thought they were invincible," he said. "This shows they're just like the rest of us."

His Conservative rival John Midgley put a brave face on his second place. He had 7,000 votes fewer than former MP John Lee had when Mr Prentice first gained Pendle in 1992.

Liberal Democrat Tony Greaves, who had hoped to pip Mr Midgley, said his party's decision to concentrate on keeping its lion's share of the county council seats in Pendle had been at the expense of his general election hopes.

The Referendum Party's Damian Hockney narrowly lost his deposit.

The subdued atmosphere during the count at Nelson Arndale Centre only broke into life when the Mayor of Pendle, Councillor Frank Clifford, read out the results at 1.20am.

An hour earlier, extra tables had been brought in to hold the long line of Labour voting papers which stretched well ahead of the other parties.

A huge roar went up from Mr Prentice's supporters as the size of his winning margin was confirmed. Afterwards he admitted he was confident of a win but never believed it would be so clear cut.

Mr Prentice began his victory speech by thanking his campaign staff and the people of Pendle who had backed him. "I've been an MP for five years and it feels like 55 but I am very pleased to be back," he said. "What has happened tonight, not just in Pendle but across the country, has been astonishing. This is a night we will not forget."

Liverpudlian solicitor John Midgley, who polled a creditable number of votes considering the national swing, said: "We fought hard and we had fun on the way. We are not disheartened. We will continue to press our cause, confidently, clearly and politely."

Mr Greaves, who polled 2,500 fewer than his predecessor in 1992, said: "We had to take a tactical decision to concentrate on the county council elections."

He predicted the county council count, which takes place today, would show a strong Liberal performance.

The party holds half of the six seats in Pendle.

Mr Hockney, a publisher from London, said his campaign had been hard fought but enjoyable. He predicted further European intervention in British affairs.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.