2001 Results George Haworth - LAB - 25,035
Keith Chapman - CONS - 6,108
Richard Roberts - LIB DEM - 5,173
Ronald Waugh - 574
Thomas Rossiter - Independent - 356
David Jones - Indepened - 271 LABOUR HOLD - TURNOUT 53.2% Northern Ireland junior minister George Haworth comfortably swept aside the opposition in one of Labour's safest seats. The count at the Kirkby Suite in the town's municpal buildings recorded a majority of almost 19,000 votes for Mr Haworth. Turnout was down more than 20% compared to 1997 typified by one spoilt ballot paper which read "I'm fed up with the lot of them - Harold Steptoe for MP." The Conservatives Keith Chapman just pippedcame runner up closely followed by Lib Dem Richard Roberts Turn-out slumped from 70 in '97 to 52.3 as echoed across teh country. As a result GH vote was down by almost 10,000 votes compared with '97 when he secured 34,747. Mr Howarth: "We went into the election saying we had achieved a great deal and there was a great deal more to achieve. "We were honest about what we have done and what we want to do in the future. "The people have given us a mandate to carry on and our work starts again today." Tory Keith C said he was pleased his party had pipped the Lib Dems for second place. He said: "Everyone expected GH to win by acomftable majortiy. This result shows the Cons party is alive and kicking in this area and we will continue to buiild on ourstrog foundations." | 
