GASPS and cheers could be heard across Macclesfield Leisure Centre this morning as Tatton’s General Election results were revealed.

While elsewhere in the country results were in before midnight, for residents in the constituency of Tatton it was an agonising wait.

The constituency covers Knutsford, Mobberley and Wilmslow and, after the boundaries changed, it now also covers Lymm.

Ballot papers were adjudicated and recounted multiple times in order to ensure that the votes were recorded properly.

It wasn’t until after 5am, nearly two hours after it was estimated to be heard, that the results were revealed.

Opinion polls had been switching between Conservative candidate, Esther McVey, and Labour Candidate, Ryan Jude, throughout the campaign.

As the polls close, YouGov predicted that Labour would win the seat with 38.6% of the vote.

However, when the votes were counted, it turned out that the success of the Labour Party across the rest of the UK couldn’t quite be replicated here.

Esther McVey claimed victory of the seat once again, having been MP for Tatton since 2017, and received 19,956 votes.

Gasps were heard from the Labour Party and cheers erupted from the Conservatives as it confirmed her win by a margin of 1,136 votes.

"Thank you very much indeed, first of all to everyone who has made today possible,” she said.

"For all those who were counting votes, thank you, for those who were manning the polling station, to the residing officers, to the police for making the day run so smoothly.

"For everybody who were my components for a hard-fought campaign, but a good campaign, so thank you very much indeed for that.

"And most of all, thank you to the voters of Tatton who put their faith in me again. It's been an honour and a privilege to be the MP for Tatton for the last seven years and it is still to be so again.

"Thank you very much, I will live up to the faith you put in me."

It seemed the Green Party candidate, Nigel Hennerley, and the candidate for the Liberal Democrats, Jonathan Smith, knew victory wasn’t on the cards, and the Reform UK candidate, Oliver Speakman, didn’t appear to show up at all.

For Labour though, a real shock over a vote that was so close it had to be recounted and confirmed.

“Look, I'm incredibly proud of the campaign that we ran, the positive campaign for change for Tatton," said Ryan.

"I am delighted that so many voters put their trust in me, supported me, and more than that I am so happy we have a Labour Government with a great majority and Keir Starmer as our Prime Minister to get the country back on track and to implement all of the changes I think that the people of Tatton and the people of the UK need.

"Thank you all so much for putting your trust in me. It was a very very close call in the end, and I am humbled that so many people met me and thought that I could be the MP for Tatton and I am so happy that they felt that I could represent them like that."