General Election 2017: Ian Lavery hails Labour's 'positive and bold' campaign
Labour MP Ian Lavery said his party's 'positive and bold' campaign saw them make huge gains in the General Election.
The Wansbeck MP, who held his seat with a majority of more than 10,000, was the national campaign co-ordinator for the Labour campaign which gained 29 seats in Thursday's vote.
He told ITV Tyne Tees it was a "positive and bold" campaign, while the Conservative campaign was focussed on "destroying" Jeremy Corbyn which he said didn't work.
He said: "Every seat counts, every vote counts and that was the basis of our campaign.
"We were very positive, we made a great, bold, imaginative offer to the general public, to the electorate, and they were really buzzing with that. We had things such as the real living wage, such as lifting the public sector pay cap, strengthening the NHS, a national education service, among many many other things.
"The Tories had a campaign purely and utterly focussed on smearing Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. People don't like that people like to be part of politics, but they want to believe that there's something in it for them as well. So we led a really positive campaign on politics, on issues, on communities and on constituencies, while the Tories looked just to try and destroy Jeremy. It didn't work."
Former Labour MP Tom Blenkisop however said people needed to remember the party lost.
Mr Blenkinsop stood down from his Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland when Theresa May announced the snap election and watched on as successor Tracy Harvey lose the Labour seat to Conservative Simon Clarke.
It was the first time in 20 years the seat had not been held by Labour.
Mr Blenkinsop said: "It was an amazing result and one I didn't expect, and one that lot of people didn't expect.
"But we still lost. I think Theresa May and the Conservatives blew the election, but we still lost and that's the important factor."