DESPITE neither candidate picking up a seat in either constituency, Swindon’s Labour representatives have praised the party’s surprisingly strong performance.

Jeremy Corbyn’s suitability to hold high office has been a constant issue throughout the campaign, but North and South Swindon’s Labour candidates, Mark Dempsey and Sarah Church, respectively, refused to let it overshadow them.

Sarah Church, who was narrowly beaten by Conservative candidate Robert Buckland, polling 22,345 to Mr Buckland’s 24,809, put her party’s success down to disgruntled public sector workers and the disillusionment of older voters after the release of the Tory manifesto.

She said: “Public sector voters overwhelmingly voted Labour – health workers, doctors, nurses and teachers. They can see the damage that is being done to their sectors under the Conservatives.

“I think some older voters, when they heard about the social care policy and the confusion and potential dangers to their homes, switched overnight to the Labour Party.

“I think people started to realise that Mrs May’s Brexit plan wasn’t so much a plan as a request to just trust her with a blank cheque.”

Labour’s candidate in North Swindon, Mark Dempsey, issued a heartfelt thank you to everyone who had supported him during his campaign as he reflected on the party’s fortunes.

He said: “The Labour Party has given those people a voice, with an exciting set of policies on schools, on restoring the NHS, and on building a fairer society.

“That’s an incredible thing to see.”

He slammed the “right wing media” for their negative coverage of the party leadership, saying that newspapers such as the Sun were “out of touch with the country”.

Looking to the future, he urged his supporters to “keep the momentum going as we may get another chance to transform Britain very soon”.

He added: “I think we feel really pleased to have closed the gap on the Conservative Party.”