THE Conservatives' Julian Smith more than doubled his majority as he held the Skipton and Ripon seat.

Mr Smith received 30,248 votes, 20,761 more than his nearest rival, Labour's Malcom Birks, who received 9,487 votes.  Mr Smith more than doubled the majority of his 2010 vote.

In 2010 Mr Smith's majority was 9,950.

In third place when the result was declared at about 5.50am was UKIP's Alan Henderson, with 7,651. Jacquie Bell for the Liberal Democrats came fourth with 4,057 votes and Andy Brown of the Green Party was fifth with 3,116.

Five years ago the Lib/Dems fought a close battle with Mr Smith, polling 17,735 votes - and snatching second place - compared with the 4,057 they gathered this time.

By attracting 9,487 votes, Mr Birks reversed a poor Labour showing in 2010, where the support for his party plunged more than 40 per cent to 5,498.

UKIP also made big inroads into its backing in Craven when Alan Henderson polled 7,651 votes outstripping his party's support in 2010 by more than 5,000 votes.

Mr Smith attributed his victory to his work in the constituency over the past five years in which he fought for the community not just along party lines.

"People also made a decision not to take a risk with a change of Government which would have meant going back to not living within our means," he said.

Speaking from the platform at Skipton Town Hall, Mr Smith said he was incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to serve the community for another five years.

"It is a massive privilege to represent this incredibly beautiful rural constituency and to demonstrate a strong voice in Westminster to help as many people as I can to get the best opportunities in life."

Skipton, which recorded a 71.4 percent turn out, marginally more than five years ago, declared its result some two hours after it was expected to be announced at 4am. The total number of votes cast was 54,768.

A disappointed Jacquie Bell put the Lib/Dem party's poor showing down to the public's lack of understanding of the positive elements the party had contributed to the Government.

"I think people have not picked up on how much the party achieved. We have lost a lot of hard-working MPs, some who have been a long time in the job," she said.