Ed Balls loses his seat to Tory Andrea Jenkyns

 
Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls
Ramzy Alwakeel8 May 2015
WEST END FINAL

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Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has lost his Morley and Outwood seat to Conservative Andrea Jenkyns.

Mr Balls, who polled 18,354, came second to Ms Jenkyns on 18,776 in an incredibly closely fought contest.

Ukip's David Dews came in third with 7,951 votes.

Mr Balls is Labour's latest high-profile casualty in a night that also saw the party all but wiped out north of the border.

In a gracious concession speech, Mr Balls said: "Andrea fought a really decent campaign. I'd like to thank all of my campaign team who worked seven days a week for five years. I'm sorry we could not quite do enough."

"Any personal disappointment I have at this result is as nothing as compared to the sense of sorrow I have at the result Labour has achieved across the UK tonight."

Scottish National Party took East Renfrewshire from Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy. Mr Murphy, who took office in 1997, was one of a number of Labour MPs to be removed by the SNP.

Douglas Alexander, Labour's shadow foreign secretary, was another big Labour casualty, losing his Paisley and Renfrewshire South seat after 18 years to the Scottish National Party. The SNP's candidate Mhairi Black was just two years old when Mr Alexander was elected alongside Mr Murphy in 1997.

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