Conservative Steve O’Connell was re-elected to represent Croydon and Sutton at the London Assembly last week, but saw his majority cut considerably.

At the elections for the London Assembly on Thursday, Councillor O'Connell won 60,152 votes, fending off competition from Labour candidate Louisa Woodley, who finished second with 50,734 votes and Lib Dem candidate Abigail Lock, who came third with 21,889 votes.

The victory for the incumbent, who is also a Croydon councillor and cabinet member, came with a dramatic reduction in his majority.

It dropped from over 42,000 votes when he was first elected to 2008 to 9,418, as Labour increased its share of the vote.

UKIP candidate Winston Truman Mckenzie finished fourth with 10,757 votes while the Greens candidate Gordon Halliday Ross finished narrowly fifth with 10,287 votes.

The Lib Dem candidate Abigail Lock saw her number of votes reduce by more than 10,000 in a miserable election for the Lib Dems.

Lib Dem candidate for mayor Brian Paddick received just 8,311 first preference votes from Croydon and Sutton voters, despite Sutton being a heartland for the party.

In comparison Boris Johnson received 77,739 votes, and Ken Livingstone, 50,393.

Coun O'Connell said he was delighted to be re-elected and considered his 60,000 votes" a strong mandate" to continue working for the people of Sutton and Croydon.

He said his priorities would now be reducing crime, improving transport and ensuring value for money was provided across City Hall services.