Geoffrey Clifton-Brown retains Cotswolds seat (From Gazette Series)

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown retains Cotswolds seat

9:21am Friday 7th May 2010 in News

CONSERVATIVE Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has retained his seat as the Cotswolds MP.

The news that Mr Clifton-Brown had won with 29,075 (53.03%) votes came at about 4am this morning to a crowded Cotswold Leisure Centre in Cirencester.

Mr Clifton Brown beat Liberal Democrat Mike Collins into second place with 16,211 votes (29.56%).

Labour’s Mark Dempsey came third with 5,886 votes (10.73%) while UKIP’s Adrian Blake followed in fourth place with 2,292 votes (4.18%).

Green Party’s Kevin Lister came fifth with 940 votes (1.71%) and Independent man Alex Steel came sixth with 428 votes (0.78%).

There was a Conservative majority of 12,864 (23.46%) The count started at about 2am and a Cotswold District Council spokesman said the turnout had increased this year by four percent from 70,210 to 76,729.

A turnout of 72percent was recorded as 54,975 Cotswold voters went to the polls.

Of the 12,817 postal votes 10,688 were returned.

Mr Clifton-Brown, who has been the Cotswold MP for 18 years, thanked his team for their hard work and said he was privileged to represent the Cotswolds.

He said: "We all need to look after those who need our help.

"I hope we’re not here in six months time doing it all again."

He added that he was delighted with the result and mentioned the Swindon rail link as top of his priorities.