Labour’s Fabian Hamilton has kept his seat in Leeds North East, fighting off Conservative challenger Matthew Lobley by 4,545 votes.

Mr Hamilton, who is Jewish and has represented the constituency since 1997, took the seat with 20,287 votes, despite being caught up in the MPs’ expenses scandal.

Mr Hamilton said: “I would like to thank, most sincerely, everyone who has supported my campaign by helping and above all by voting for me. I pledge myself to serve all the constituents of Leeds North East unstintingly and to the best of my ability.

“I would also like to thank and acknowledge those candidates from other parties in Leeds North East for the way that they have played their part in giving a full democratic choice of policies and philosophies to the electorate.”

Conservative candidate Mr Lobley and Lib Dem Aqila Choudry came second and third respectively.

The rest of the vote was shared between UKIP, BNP and Alliance for Green Socialism candidates, who all polled less than 1,000 votes.

All the results from the key constituencies on our Election 2010 page