NIGEL Adams thanked a record number of voters in Selby, and said it was a "bizarre evening" which saw the Conservatives increase their majority in the area.

The turnout for the General Election in the Selby and Ainsty constituency saw 56,235 verified votes from 75,918 eligible voters who braved the wet weather to make their mark - a massive 74.07 per cent turnout.

When the final count was announced in Selby at about 3.20am, Mr Adams took 58.5 per cent of the votes (32,921), with a majority of 13,772 over Labour candidate David Bowgett, who took 19,149.

Liberal Democrat candidate, and former University of York student Callum Delhoy placed third with 2,293 votes, and UKIP's Tony Pycroft finished with 1,713 votes.

Speaking after his re-election, Mr Adams said questions needed to be asked about the way his party's national election campaign had been run.

He said: "I think there have been some real question marks about how the Conservative national campaign has been handled, and the Labour campaign has been run effectively as a cult around Jeremy Corbyn.

"This election was always about giving Theresa May a strong mandate in Brexit negotiations but that seems to have been derailed by the confusion around the message on our social care package which should not have happened."

Speaking about the events of the night around the country, Mr Adams said it was "a bizarre evening for results, quite exciting and makes for good television", but while he was pleased with his re-election, his focus was now on looking ahead.

He said: "We have seen here, in this part of Yorkshire, the Conservative vote increase quite substantially. I have won three elections, I've never had so many votes, and never had a vote share of this size.

"Resetting the economy is key we need to ensure I keep selling this area to potential employers and investors. Once you fix the economy, everything else doesn't quite take care of itself, but gives a sound base to deliver services you need in the community."