THE dust has still barely settled but after six weeks of campaigning and five years of effort, we are almost at a status quo in Warrington.

The tension in Birchwood was high for 10 hours as May 7 turned into May 8 and the town held its breath waiting for the results of the two General Election seats.

Would Warrington follow the national picture? Would Helen Jones see her majority cut still further, would David Mowat hold onto Warrington South?

In the end both grew their majorities on a night of high drama.

For Helen Jones this is a fifth win, when she gets around to the next election in 2020, should she choose to stand again, she will have been the MP for 23 years. A remarkable achievement.

For Mr Mowat, this will be a decade in power.

And when he probably started both elections as second favourite, that is also some record.

One supporter said maybe he has had luck on his side, maybe so.

But he knows how to win two elections, and had the remarkable carrot of two bridges to dangle to voters following his efforts in Parliament in the past five years.

A record which has also seen him win funding for the Peace Centre and the promise of a cut to tolls on the new Runcorn bridge – a promise which most thought would never be tested when it was made two weeks ago.

Watching the desolation among Labour supporters, it is hard not to feel sorry for Nick Bent.

He has also given seven years of his life to try to be an MP in Warrington and twice seen it narrowly snatched away.

He will have a long period of reflection ahead while he decides how to achieve his dream of becoming an MP. He has made a life in Great Sankey, but it was still not enough.

In reality, it probably would not have mattered who stood. History tells us whoever wins the House of Commons, wins Warrington South.

And what of the Lib Dems?

Five years ago, this was their target seat. Nick Clegg arrived on his battle bus, but Jo Crotty missed out and the vote almost totally collapsed.

As candidate Bob Barr said, they could not hold back the national tidal waves that swept over them – and looking at the result, most of their vote, especially south of the canal, flowed into David Mowat’s hands.

UKIP made little impression in the south but came a strong third in the North where Richard Short also had a strong showing – he will surely be back as a candidate in future.

So the characters played their hands, but when the final curtain came down, it was the status quo that was played.

Until 2020.