Bill Esterson has retained his Sefton Central seat

BILL Esterson has retained his Sefton Central seat and came away with a huge increase in his majority in the General Election. As widely expected, he won the parliamentary seat having fought off competition from four other candidates, but what perhaps came as more of a surprise was a dramatic rise in his number of votes. In the 2010 election, when he was first elected, Esterson had a majority of 3,862, which has now risen to a massive 11,846. In what many had anticipated to be one of the closest elections in recent memory, polling stations from across Sefton were packed on Thursday, May 7 with nearly a 73% turnout in Sefton Central. Many stayed up until the early hours of the following morning as results from across the country filtered through, with the Tories winning an unexpected majority under David Cameron. But Labour had success in Sefton Central, as Esterson picked up a 53.8% share of the votes and improved on his tally five years ago when he recorded 41.9%. It meant that Labour came away with a 11,846 majority, with Esterson getting 26,359 of the overall votes. He said: “It's been a pleasure and a privilege to serve as MP for Sefton Central over the last five years and I would like to thank the people of this constituency for returning me to serve as their MP. ”It is bound to be a harder task over the next five years with a re-invigorated Conservative Government hell-bent on wielding the axe, rewarding the wealthiest at the expense of ordinary working families, older people and the young right here in Sefton Central. “This is a constituency that I love. I want the very best for the people who live here. I want the very best for the place where I am bringing up my family. I am immensely proud to be the Sefton Central MP. It is a role that is more than a job to me. This is about representing people in parliament and battling to get the best for this constituency and the people who live here. ”I will continue to do my very best for this constituency and I can promise everyone now that I will continue to fight for Sefton Central and the the interests of residents in each and every community in my constituency.“ Esterson's nearest rival in last week's election was the Conservatives' Valerie Allen, who came away with 29.6% and 14,513 votes. The UK Independence Party came in third, with Tim Power getting 4,879 of the votes which represented a 10% share. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrats suffered a dramatic drop in popularity, which was in keeping with a national trend, as local candidate Paula Keaveney picked up only 4.3% of the votes, compared with 19.9% for Richard Clein in 2010. In last place was The Green Party's first ever candidate in the Sefton Central constituency, Lindsay Melia, who picked up 1,184 of the votes which was a 2.4% share.