A STARTLING 77 per cent turned out to vote in the Leominster Constituency and returned Conservative MP Bill Wiggin with 25,407 votes.

Mr Wiggin secured more than twice the vote of his nearest rival, the Liberal Democrat Caroline Williams.

He said he mobilised his voters on a ticket of cleaner hospitals, better school discipline and lower taxes.

"I'm delighted with the result, it's a tremendous compliment to be returned with an increased majority after the work I have put in over the last four years," he said.

Among the disappointed candidates was the UK Independence Party's Peter Whyte-Venables, who failed to make any ground on the 2001 result. He said his team had delivered 20,000 leaflets around the constituency in the run-up, but to no avail.

Green Party candidate Felicity Norman was equally disappointed.

"Our vote didn't quite materialise but it was still an improvement on the last election. We will have Green candidates at the next election, I might stand but perhaps it will be my daughter," said Mrs Norman.

Labour's Paul Bell said the Iraq War and immigration were the two primary issues where his party had lost.

Result: Bill Wiggin (Con), 25,407; Caroline Williams (Lib Dem), 12,220; Paul Bell (Lab), 7,424; Felicity Norman (Green), 2,191 (loses deposit); Peter Whyte-Venables (UKIP), 1,551 (loses deposit).