Election latest: Labour stalwart Dennis Skinner sees off Tory attempt to unseat him and retains Bolsover seat for 13th time

'I came into the contest way back in 1970 primarily because I was nominated by the miners', the Bolsover MP says

NEC Committee member and former Chairman of the Labour Party Dennis Skinner (PA Images)

The veteran Labour MP Dennis Skinner has fought off a concerted effort to unseat him, holding on to the seat he has occupied for the last 47 years.

Mr Skinner has been the MP for Bolsover since he first won the seat in 1970. This time round he took 24,153 votes, keeping his seat with a majority 52 per cent vote.

The victory was hard won, with the Conservative candidate Helen Harrison gaining 41 per cent of the 46,519 electors who cast their ballots, the Liberal Democrats received under three per cent of the vote.

Speaking to the Derbyshire Times at the ballot count, Mr Skinner said that the campaign trail took him to “every village”, admitting that he fights it “like a marginal.”

The former chairman of the Labour Party generally voted in favour of gay rights, and consistently voted for allowing marriage between two people of the same sex.

He voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.

The Labour MP is known for his fiery rhetoric in parliamentary sessions: he was famously kicked out of parliament in 2016 for calling David Cameron “dodgy Dave” after the then Prime Minister defended his financial affairs in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal.

He accused Theresa May of walking "hand-in-hand [with a] fascist" during her visit with US President Donald Trump in January.

The latest results suggest the Conservatives are on course to be the largest party with 319 seats, a loss of 12 seats in comparison to Labour’s gain of 29, bringing their total seats to 261.

This will mean a hung parliament, and the Prime Minister is likely to try to form a government with the help of the DUP.

The results mark a terrible night for Theresa May, who began her campaign with a strong lead but saw her advantage narrow. Members of her party are suggesting she might stand down as Prime Minister, but Conservative sources insist she has no intention of resigning.