TOUGH being a Tory? Try telling that to Leominster MP Bill Wiggin who increased his majority while successfully defending his north Herefordshire seat in the General Election.

On a night when the Conservatives failed to make any serious inroads into Labour's massive overall majority, Mr Wiggin could hold his head high after receiving 25,407 votes - 52.1% of the total papers cast.

This was 3.1% more than in 2001 when Mr Wiggin won with a total of 22,879 votes.

The Leominster constituents should also be congratulated after a massive 77% of the electorate turned out to take part in the elections.

Caroline Williams finished second after 12,220 voters gave their support to the Liberal Democrat candidate.

Labour's Paul Bell came in third with 7,424 votes, and he was followed by the Green Party's Felicity Norman with 2,191 votes and Peter Venables of the UK Independence Party with 1,551.