Jacqui's relief

Karen Lumley (Con) 15,296

Nigel Hicks (Lib Dem) 5,602

John Ison (UKIP) 1,381

REDDITCH'S "shocked" Conservative candidate was left licking her wounds on Friday morning after a jubilant and relieved Jacqui Smith was returned for a third time as MP.

The vote for Ms Smith bucked the national trend and she won a small but significant 0.02 per cent swing from Conservative to Labour and an increased majority of 2,716.

Overall, she picked up 44.7 per cent of the vote, down by less than one per cent on the 2001 result.

The relief on Ms Smith's face was unmistakable as the result was declared at 3.30am by Acting Returning Officer Chris Smith.

And Mrs Lumley was unable to hide her disappointment after she polled just 38 per cent of the vote, down 0.9 per cent on the 2001 result.

Asked what went wrong, she said: "If I knew the answer to that, we would have won.

"I'm very, very disappointed. I thought we'd do much better and I'm shocked we lost by that much but we just haven't picked up in the Midlands."

She said the Conservatives had received a good response to their campaigns against the closure of police stations and the town's post offices.

"I think people were swayed by national policies such as controlled immigration, which had a negative impact in certain parts of Redditch," she added.

"But we're not going away, we're the second biggest party and we'll continue to be a fighting force for Redditch."

Meanwhile, an emotional Ms Smith said she was delighted and proud to have been re-elected.

She said: "I have worked very hard, not just during the election campaign, to represent people and I have told them to judge me not by my words but by looking at the changes around them."

Ms Smith said resuming the town's free bus-pass scheme for pensioners had been a major issue that may have contributed to the swing to Labour.

Liberal Democrat Nigel Hicks had a small victory of his own, gaining an extra 1,794 compared to 2001.

Mr Hicks said: "My plan now is to visit a different part of the town every week and build up membership and support for the party."

With 3.4 per cent of the votes cast, the UK Independence Party's John Ison said he was "far from disappointed" and had high hopes for the future.

Turnout was up in Redditch at 63.8 per cent compared to 59.7 per cent in 2001.

In Bromsgrove, Conservative Julie Kirkbride held on to her seat, which includes Alvechurch and Wythall, with an increased majority.

Ms Kirkbride was re-elected with 24,387 votes (51 per cent), a 1.6 per cent swing from Labour to Conservative.

Labour candidate David Jones polled 14,307 votes (29.9 per cent), with Liberal Democrat Sue Haswell on 7,197 (15.1 per cent) and UKIP's Paul Buckingham polling 1,919 votes (four per cent).

Ms Kirkbride, 45, a former journalist, was first elected in 1997.

John Maples held Stratford for the Conservatives polling 12,184 more votes than his nearest rival, Liberal Democrat candidate Susan Juned.

Mr Maples returns to Westminster for his third term as MP for Alcester, Bidford and Studley.

The full results were: Rachel Blackmore (Labour) 10,145; Harry Cottam (UKIP) 1,621; Mick Davies (Green Party) 1,354; Susan Juned (Liberal Democrat) 16,468; John Maples (Conservative) 28,652.