THE Conservatives must now be taken seriously as an electoral force in the North of England, a new study has found.

Academics say the next leader of the Labour Party cannot take the party’s strength in the North for granted.

The Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) report shows Conservative support increased significantly in the North-East - traditionally the party’s weakest region - in the General Election.

While the party made less progress in Yorkshire, it still won almost 40 per cent of parliamentary seats, including Calder Valley, Keighley, Pudsey, Shipley and Skipton and Ripon, which all stayed blue.

SPERI’s Deputy Director, Dr Craig Berry, argues that the notion northern England is a Labour Party stronghold, while the Conservative Party controls the South, is “too simplistic”.

He said: “The view promoted, to some extent, by all of the emerging Labour leadership candidates is that Labour needs to broaden its appeal away from its heartlands, and towards voters in the South. Yet our research shows that the Labour Party clearly cannot afford to take its traditional strength in northern England for granted.”

Of the three northern regions - North-East, North-West and Yorkshire and Humberside, the Conservative Party is traditionally strongest in the latter.