John Grogan has thanked Labour voters who supported him in last week's general election after again missing out on becoming the MP for Keighley and Ilkley.
Mr Grogan was the MP for the constituency between 2017 and 2019 and was taking part in his fourth election in our area.
In 2017 he defeated sitting MP Kris Hopkins with a majority of 239 votes, and then lost to Robbie Moore in 2019 by a margin of 2,218.
It was widely expected that he would be returning to Parliament this year, with polling data ahead of the election suggesting that there was a strong chance of a Labour win in Keighley and Ilkley. While there were strong gains around the country and Labour recorded a landslide victory to get into government, a shock result saw Conservative candidate Robbie Moore re-elected with a majority of 1,625.
Speaking to Your Ilkley Radio, John Grogan said: "Thank you to all those who voted Labour in Keighley and Ilkley on Thursday as well as all those who supported the Labour campaign over recent weeks in record numbers. "My congratulations to Robbie Moore on his re-election locally. "Congratulations also to all those Labour MPs who were elected nationwide to support the new government."