“DEMOCRACY is precious.” That’s the message from Conservative Rachel Maclean, who has been re-elected Redditch MP.

Mrs Maclean won the Redditch general election comfortably with 27,907 votes, 9,000 more than her victory in the 2017 election.

She beat closest rival Labour candidate Rebecca Jenkins by more than 16,000 votes.

Bruce Horton of the Liberal Democrats came third and the Green Party's Claire Davies came fourth.

Taking to the stage at the Abbey Stadium earlier this morning a jubilant Mrs Maclean thanked everyone involved for their hard work, as well as the other candidates.

She also thanked her husband David, and her children.

She said she was proud to have fought a “fair and positive” campaign.

"I pledge to work hard for everyone in Redditch," she said.

She added it was an honour to be re-elected and serve the area.

Defeated Labour candidate Rebecca Jenkins admitted it was not the result she wanted.

“This will not be the end of me,” she said.

"I will win next time.”

Turnout in Redditch for the general election was 67.7 per cent, down by 2.8 percentage points since the last general election.

The results in full are:

Rachel Maclean (CON elected) 27,907

Rebecca Jenkins (LAB) 11,871 

William Horton (LIB) 2,905 

Claire Davies (GRN) 1,384

Nationally, it looks like Boris Johnson is set for five years of majority rule, while Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he will resign before the next election.

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