LABOUR’S candidate for Colchester says she won’t be ditching the party, or politics, despite failing in her bid to become the town’s ever female MP.

Tina McKay, who joined the party just after the 2015 election, said she wouldn’t give up on “fighting for a better Colchester”.

However she stopped short of saying she would stand for election again in the town, either to Colchester Council or as an MP in future elections.

Mrs McKay said: “I need a little bit of sleep and rest and my husband has barely seen me over the six weeks.”

Although Labour maintained its second place position, with a healthy and better than expected lead over the Lib Dems, the constituency was expected to be closer fought than it turned out.

Mrs McKay said she was very proud of her team’s hard work and dedication getting the message out of the doorsteps.

She said: “Regardless of what we offered the agenda was set by Brexit and that is what a lot of people focused on.

“People in Colchester did respond to our offering because we ran a positive campaign.

“I do not believe in engaging with any form of personal attacks or negativity, what we should be doing is offering the voters a better choice.

“We did that with our heart and soul.”

Following Labour’s disastrous results nationally, party leader Jeremy Corbyn announced he would step down and allow someone else to take the helm.

Mrs McKay, a strong supporter of Corbyn and his socialist policies, said she hoped he would stay but she would remain a member of the party under any new leadership.

She said: “Under the current leadership we have offered so much more to members like democratising the party and giving people a say in our policies.

“I do not want to see Jeremy step down as his vision empowered me.”

She added: “But I am not just going to cut my membership card, we have to fight for a better Colchester and a better country.”