Blair Wins Second Term; Tories Lose Ground; Lib-Dems Big Winners In British Election

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has won a second term for his Labour Government. With 443 of the 659 seats in the House of Commons now declared, the Labour Party has won 339 seats and is expected to increase this to around 415.

The Conservative Party has won 55 seats, taking Upminster, Romford, Norfolk North West and Galloway and Upper Nithsdale from Labour. The Tories have also won a seat in Scotland, its only win

The Liberal-Democrats have won 28 seats and look set to increase their 1997 total of 46 seats. The Liberal-Democrat vote is up at the same time as voter turnout has declined sharply. Approximately 58% of eligible voters have turned out, down from 71% at the last general election in 1997.

One of the seats won by the Liberal-Democrats is Chesterfield, held by the retiring Labour left-winger Tony Benn.

In Wyre-Forest, in Lancashire's North Fylde region, a traditionally Conservative area until 1997, a local doctor, Richard Taylor, has taken the seat from Labour's David Lock. An independent health services candidate, Taylor campaigned on the issue of a local hospital.

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