My sincerest thanks to all the local people in Penistone & Stocksbridge who put their faith in myself and the Conservative Party at the recent General Election. The Conservative Party achieved an 8% swing away from Labour and polled nearly 15,000 votes – well above the figure of approximately 9,300 Conservative votes in 2005. This result has placed us within touching distance of winning the seat at future elections.

I have been very touched by the large numbers of residents who have called, e-mailed and texted to express their sadness that I was not successful on this occasion.

Local Conservatives fought a positive campaign, focused on the issues which matter most to local people; levels of crime and ant-social behaviour, the appalling state of our roads and pavements, the need to get much better parks and play facilities across the constituency. Our Conservative team will continue to hold to account our newly elected MP and the local authorities.

These are exciting political times. David Cameron and our new coalition Government with the Lib Dems has important work to do if we are to deal with the sizable problems the country is facing. I will continue to do everything I can personally to make sure that we make progress to address these issues – both locally and nationally.

 Again, all my sincerest thanks to the people of Penistone & Stocksbridge.

Spencer Pitfield
Conservative General Election Candidate
Penistone & Stocksbridge