Five days on from the local elections, I’ve finally returned to earth after floating on a sea of excitement for the last few days. For the first time since 1987, Blackpool is a Conservative council. We gained 2 from the LibDems in Blackpool North, and 5 from Labour. We missed out on 1 more seat through a recount, and Park ward by only 95 votes in a ward we hadn’t even campaigned in. We also had a clean sweep in Cleveleys, winning all 11 seats after losing 6-5 to Labour in 2003.

Across the constituency of Blackpool North & Cleveleys, we now hold 24 seats to Labour’s 5. The LibDems were wiped out.

Who says we can’t win in the North?!

I am so pleased for all the candidates who have worked tremendously hard. The likes of Andrea Kay and Julie Newsham, both of whom were new to politics completely, threw their everything and I was delighted they won. Down in Blackpool, candidates such as Roy Haskett in Layton and Julian Mineur in Greenlands both worked like Trojans. I haven’t mentioned every candidate – take it as read, I think they all worked very hard – and they all deserve their success.

But there’s a long way to go before the General Election, and I don’t believe the local elections provide any real guide except to prove the very real opportunity that we have to win this constituency. It will require a lot of hard work – which we demonstrated our capacity for in recent weeks – but in that old political cliché, I am ‘cautiously optimistic’!