WINSFORD stalwart Terry Savage was left feeling proud of his General Election campaign despite a tough night for the Labour.

The party’s Eddisbury candidate – a former Winsford United chairman who has sat on local NHS boards for 16 years – finished second on 11,652 votes.

That number was a drop of 5,598 on the result Labour got in 2017 and saw Mr Savage finish 18,443 votes behind Edward Timpson of the Conservatives.

Mr Savage believes his party struggled over two issues – Brexit and the public perception of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

“Brexit has been clearly the thing that people cared about mostly,” he said.

“That has trumped all the issues that affect ordinary people – homelessness, foodbank use, insecure jobs, the NHS, all of those things have been put to one side by people because they want to get this Brexit situation sorted out.

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“And the other thing is that for four years Jeremy Corbyn has had his character assassinated by the media and a lot of people just parrot what they are told in the headlines.

“It has been difficult trying to discuss things with them because they have got a fixed view about Jeremy Corbyn and the leadership of the Labour Party.”

Labour endured a difficult night across the country – losing 59 seats while the Conservatives picked up shock wins in some parts of the north on their way to forming a majority government.

Mr Savage was proud of his own campaign, although disappointed it did not cut through across the constituency outside of his hometown.

He said: “I’ve been very proud of the campaign that we have put forward – a very positive campaign.

“We’ve spoken to a lot of people on the doorsteps, we’ve spoken to lots of groups, and we have held public question and answer sessions. People have been asking challenging questions that we expected during this campaign.

“I think locally within Winsford itself we have a very good base – people have responded very positively here. We’ve not been able to get our message out right across the constituency.

“We’re a small team, we don’t have lots of money. The Liberal Democrats seem to have been spending a lot of money – I think I’ve had 10 lots of leaflets through my door paid through the post, and we certainly can’t match that in any way, shape or form.”

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As a difficult night for Labour unfolded nationwide, Mr Corbyn announced he would step down as leader before the next election.

Mr Savage insisted that was a decision for Mr Corbyn and the national party to make – but that Eddisbury Labour members ‘have supported Jeremy Corbyn in elections over the last few years’.