DERBY was Labour's General Election island of red as the Tories turned Derbyshire into a sea of blue.

Margaret Beckett had a 6,000 majority in Derby South, while former city council leader Chris Williamson triumphed in Derby North.

But elsewhere, there were wins for Conservatives Pauline Latham in Mid-Derbyshire, Heather Wheeler in South Derbyshire, Patrick McLoughlin in Derbyshire Dales and Jessica Lee in Erewash.

Mr Williamson, who has now stood down as Labour's leader on Derby City Council, said: "This is a great result for Labour and the people of Derby. It shows it's not the broken Britain or broken Derby David Cameron spoke about.

"This is the proudest moment in my political life."

His Conservative rival, Stephen Mold, finished 600 votes behind, with Liberal Democrat Lucy Care in third.

Mr Mold said he was proud of his party's campaign.

"It was a close result and I think there will be some people who will be disappointed with it," he said.

Mrs Care stood down as a city councillor to concentrate on her campaign.

She said: "I am obviously disappointed – our team has been brilliant. There will be a lot of very disappointed people, not least the 12,000-plus who voted for me.

Labour stalwart Mrs Beckett was celebrating as she retained the Derby South seat she has held for the past 27 years and despite a lower turnout – which was six per cent down – she increased her majority from 5,000 to 6,000.

She said: "I want to thank most of all the electors of Derby South for giving me their confidence."

Meanwhile, Labour was also celebrating victory after making gains to become the largest party on the city council.

Labour has 17 seats and the Liberal Democrats, who were in charge, are tied on 16 seats with the Tories. There are also two Independent councillors.

The Lib Dems lost three seats, two to Labour and one to the Conservatives.

Mr Williamson, who retained his Normanton seat, said he would serve as a councillor and an MP but would no longer lead Labour locally.