INCREASING school funding, dualling York's outer ring road and the A64 and securing funding for the York Central development will be MP Julian Sturdy's priorities when he returns to Parliament.

The Conservative politician - who has represented the York Outer constituency since 2010 - will return to Westminster with a greater majority than he secured in the 2017 polls.

He said Thursday was a "historic election" - and that Conservative gains in northern constituencies mean the Government will need to "put its money where its mouth is" by investing in the region.

The Conservatives gained seats in Yorkshire and the north east including Wakefield, Don Valley, Keighley and Darlington.

Mr Sturdy, who increased his majority from 8,289 to 9,985, said after the declaration: "I'm absolutely delighted that the people of York Outer have put their trust back in me again. It's now my time to make sure I repay that trust.

"When we first saw the exit poll it was looking really positive.

"What I'm really pleased about is the success we've had in the north of England and some seats in the north that we didn't even think we had the potential to win.

"I think that really does strengthen our hand in the north - the fact that we're going to have so many Conservative MPs. Together I believe we can make sure we can get the fair funding for the north that we deserve.

"Some of the big issues for York Outer are transport and infrastructure investment.

"We've secured the money for dualling the northern part of the ring road. The next stage is to make sure we get funding secured for the dualling of the A64.

"We need to bring York Central forward - that's a really important project for the city. Education funding as well - it's really important that York gets its fair share of that."

There were cheers from Conservative campaigners across the floor of Energise leisure centre as their party gained former Labour seats in the north. And they watched on in delight as the television screen set up next to the stage showed Boris Johnson being re-elected to his constituency in Uxbridge.