ANTOINETTE Sandbach has been re-elected as the MP for Eddisbury.

The Conservative MP received 29,192 votes, up from 24,167 votes in the 2015 General Election.

And while it was a comfortable victory, Labour candidate Cathy Reynolds received 17,250 votes, a significant improvement on James Laing’s 11,193 total in the 2015 election.

Despite being a Tory stronghold for many years, Ms Sandbach looked incredibly sheepish when she eventually turned up at the count at the Winsford Lifestyle Centre around 2.30am.

The Conservative candidate refused to talk to all members of the press prior to her victory speech.

Ms Sandbach said it was an ‘honour’ to represent Eddisbury, but warned there were ‘tough’ times ahead, with the Brexit negotiations looming and the uncertainty over who will be leading them.

Earlier in the night Labour candidate Cathy Reynolds said she was quietly optimistic that an upset could be on the cards on a national level, with the exit polls predicting a hung Parliament.

She said: “I think the exit poll makes for a very interesting night.

“When the Tories started this election they expected to have a landslide victory, I think that is not going to be on the cards if those exit polls are correct.”

This is the first foray into politics for Ms Reynolds, who said she applied to be a candidate because she was ‘cross’ at the way the country was headed.

She said Theresa May ‘misjudged the mood of the country’ for making the Conservative campaign about Brexit.

She said: “I think she thought this was going to be about Brexit, she tried to make it about Brexit.

“But on the street it was the last thing people were interested in.

“People were interested in the future of the NHS, cuts to education in this area and the effect that’s going to have on their kids’ schooling.

“The future of their children who want to go on to university. These are the things people were worried about round here, not Brexit.

“She’s totally misjudged the mood of the country in the way she’s played it.”

The rest of the results in Eddisbury are as follows: Ian Priestner (Lib Dem) received 2,804; John Bickley (UKIP): 1,109; Mark Green (Green): 785 and Morgan Hill (Pirate): 179.