RYEDALE'S former MP Anne McIntosh has welcomed the general election result and congratulated her successor.

She said: "Obviously the result locally is a good one and I congratulate Kevin Hollinrake on his success.

"Considering we had the death of the Candidate in 2010 and the re-run and extended election campaign , I thought the result we achieved in May 2010 was more than respectable, given the fact there was only a 50% turn out as well."

Miss McIntosh added: "It was disappointing at the time for me not to have been confirmed as Minister given the delay in the 2010 election , but it was a great honour to be returned for the new Constituency of Thirsk , Malton and Filey and to represent the people here for the last five years.

" The icing on the cake was to have been elected by my peers from all parties in the House of Commons to serve as Chairman of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs where I was able to raise matters of deep concern locally such as flooding and fracking, farming and rural communities generally.

" I shall greatly miss the opportunity to press for a better deal and greater provision of services for rural as opposed to urban communities."

Miss McIntosh said with David Cameron winning a second term with a majority Government this time, it made her proud to be a Conservative.

"Most of those I helped during this election campaign have been returned to the House of Commons but we did suffer some losses too," she added.

"The Government must now make good its election promises: more money for the health service , delivering stronger devolution for England and conducting a renegotiation of our membership with the EU and holding a referendum .

"I believe it was our handling of the economy and our promise to respect the integrity of the United Kingdom that attracted the trust of the electorate in the 2015 election."

Miss McIntosh, who has served 18 years as a North Yorkshire MP, announced her decision to not to stand in the general election in March after she was deselected by her constituency association.

She said: "I wish all my colleagues who have been returned to serve in this Parliament every success for what will be a challenging time.

"I shall not disappear but will continue to campaign on issues of interest to me such as food and farming, flooding and fracking, a general date on energy demand and supply, rural life generally and the provision of service in rural communities such as broadband," she added.

Miss McIntosh said: "Nationally the result is astonishingly good and much better than opinion polls or even canvassing suggested. To be returned with 331 Conservative Members, David Cameron had earned the trust of the British people to govern as a Conservative majority Government."