COLCHESTER’S defeated Tory candidate has promised to stay in the town and fight again.

As with previous Tory challengers, Stephan Shakespeare and Kevin Bentley, Will Quince lost out to Lib Dem Bob Russell in the race for the Colchester seat.

Mr Quince, 27, moved to the town 18 months ago after being selected to fight the seat and has been campaigning ever since, highlighting causes ranging from homelessness to the threat to Colchester’s Roman walls.

Colchester-born Mr Russell’s campaign literature was prone to refer to Mr Quince as “the Conservative candidate from Hertfordshire”, but in defeat the Tory challenger insisted he was here to stay.

He said: “I’m going to stay here, campaigning for the Conservatives in Colchester.

“We always knew Bob was going to be a tough nut to crack, but we increased our share of the vote.

“I’m proud of the campaign we ran and I think every member of my team can hold their heads up high.”

Colchester was one of the target seats the Conservatives needed to win to secure a working majority, but David Cameron and senior colleagues failed to visit during the campaign.

However, Mr Quince insisted he had been happy with the support he had received from Conservative Central Office.

He added: “Only last year, David Cameron came to Colchester and spoke to members of the public.”

Labour saw its share of the vote in Colchester slump for the third election in a row, Jordan Newell, 26, coming a distant third with 5,680 votes and a 12.3 per cent share of the poll.

After the result was announced, he praised his team for its positive and energetic campaign, and insisted it could not have done more.

Despite polling 3,000 fewer votes than Labour did in 2005, Mr Newell said he was pleased with the result.

He explained: “There was tactical voting. People were saying they were undecided, they weren’t going to vote Conservative and they were going to find a home on the left.

“There was tactical voting to ensure Bob was returned, which is something we expected.

“Colchester Labour Party is more than happy with the performance it put in.

“We think it’s one of the best campaigns we have run in many elections.”