DON VALLEY: Flint holds on despite massive fall in vote

Ms Flint, who was Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber between June 2007 and January 2008, has also served as an Employment and a Housing Minister since the 1997 election.

She won her seat, which is made up of former mining villages and rural communities to the south and west of Doncaster, with a majority of 3,595 – down from more than 11,300 in 2005.

Her constituency includes the village of Edlington, which hit the headlines in April 2009 when two young brothers carried out shocking attacks on two other boys on secluded wasteland.

Ms Flint later led calls for earlier intervention for problem families sooner and for Doncaster Council to immediately improve its children's services .

During her campaign Miss Flint said: "Unlike my opponents, most of whom have only been candidates a matter of weeks, we actually have been meeting voters for months.

"Our message is that we have made a difference across Don Valley – new jobs, better policing, modern schools, new health centres, WarmFronts grants for pensioners.."

Ms Flint attracted publicity when she criticised Gordon Brown when she resigned as a Minister last June.