DAVID Mowat says he is 'very disappointed' to lose the Warrington South seat after seven years as an MP.

The Conservative, who has been a health minister for the past year, lost by 2,549 votes to Labour's Faisal Rashid.

First elected in 2010 he saw his almost 3,000 vote majority wiped out in a Labour surge in the north west.

He also told the Warrington Guardian he would not stand again and would be stepping away from politics.

"I did not see it coming to be honest," he said.

"Our vote went up by about 1,000 compared to 2015 because of course the Labour vote went up a lot more.

"I am very disappointed. I will miss the job but it is a phase of life in a way.

"The great thing about politics is there is no ambiguity. It is a binary thing. You win or you lose.

"We had the election and Faisal won, so that is it.

"Warrington South was a Remain constituency so I wonder if that played a part. People did talk about it on the doorstep."