AS Julian Smith swept to victory in a wave of Tory enthusiasm in Craven, the losers were left to fight for rest of the spoils.

With support totalling 30,248, Mr Smith more than doubled the majority on his 2010 vote, beating off his nearest contender, Labour's Malcolm Birks, by 20,761.

In contrast, the Liberal Democrats, represented by Jacquie Bell, saw their support drop dramatically, shoving them into fourth place behind UKIP.

In 2010, 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.

Andrew Brown, for the Greens, polled a respectable 3,116.

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, where the vote was declared at just before 6am on Friday, 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.