THE Friday morning rush hour was under way before Keighley heard who its next MP would be.

Conservative candidate Kris Hopkins was returned to Parliament with a 3,053 majority in one of the latest results to be announced.

With 21,766 votes, he beat Labour hopeful John Grogan into second place with 18,713 votes, in a close-fought contest.

Paul Latham gained 5,662 votes for UKIP and Ros Brown gained 1,661 for the Green Party, leaving the Liberal Democrats to come last with candidate Gareth Epps’s 1,321 votes.

Mr Hopkins said he was delighted to retain his Keighley seat for the Conservatives.

He said: “It's my hometown and it's a great privilege to be re-elected.

“It's either late, or, early, but let's go back to work to continue what we've got to do for Keighley and Ilkley.

“We've created 1,000 jobs in five years which is a good start. We need to get wages back in people's pockets."

Mr Hopkins paid tribute to fellow candidates and thanked them for a "good clean fight.”

Afterwards, Mr Hopkins admitted to feeling a little emotional. He said: "I'm pubs minister, so I might go for a pint or two.”

Speaking about issues to be addressed, Mr Hopkins said: “I want to put Keighley on the map and grow the economy around Keighley and Airedale.

“We honestly haven’t stopped since 2010."

Speaking about any threat to Keighley's police station, Mr Hopkins said: “I will need to have a chat with our Labour Police and Crime Commissioner about that."

Labour candidate John Grogan said he was “obviously very disappointed” at the result.

He said: “We couldn’t really buck the national swing. I think we lost a lot of votes because of fear of the SNP.

“The Labour Party has a lot of thinking to do nationally."

Ros Brown, candidate for the Green Party, knew she was not going to win the election in Keighley, but was nevertheless delighted with the events of voting day.

She said: “Every single Green vote counts.

“The reason I stood was because I couldn’t vote Green myself last time. It’s been 23 years since anyone could vote Green in Keighley.”

Gareth Epps, the Liberal Democrat candidate, also praised the “very positive” campaign by all the candidates and said the quintet got on together well.

He said: “We’ve been busy campaigning all day and throughout the week. I’ve walked 20 miles a day in the last three days.”

Despite his marathon efforts, Mr Epps realised early on during Thursday night’s count that his party was not doing well.

He said: “It’s clearly going to be difficult night for the party and some rebuilding needs to be done."