LABOUR’S Roberta Blackman-Woods, who defied the bookies to retain her Durham City seat, last night predicted Gordon Brown would soon step aside because the party’s leadership needed to be “renewed and re-energised”.

Despite poll predictions of a Liberal Democrat landslide, Dr Blackman-Woods managed to hold on with a majority of 3,067.

She attributed her narrow escape to a campaign based around her work as a constituency MP and what Labour had delivered for Durham.

“We had a very strong Liberal Democrat campaign against us, the Nick Clegg surge and Gordon Brown’s gaffe,” she said. “But we kept talking to people. I was out every day, three times a day.

We listened to people.

“I’ve been a hard-working MP. If people come up to me in the supermarket with a problem, I get out a pen and paper.

“I live here, I’m around, I’m approachable and I don’t stand on ceremony,” she said.

However, Dr Blackman- Woods’ success came amid many Labour losses. She now expects the Conservatives and Lib Dems to form the next government, saying the Tories had “more democratic legitimacy”

to do so than Labour.

But could Labour stay in power by working with the Lib Dems, who she fought so hard? “They have to put constituents ahead of anything else,” she said.

Asked about Gordon Brown’s future, she said: “I would have thought it’s very likely that he’ll stand down at some point.

“The most important thing is we need to get a government in place. Then comes the Labour Party.

“I do think we should look at the leadership. We need to be renewed and re-energised.”

Dr Blackman-Woods said her record was about investment in education, changing the debate on Durham’s economy to knowledge-based businesses and high-level manufacturing, protecting the city’s heritage and delivering affordable housing.

And she had stood up for Durham – on licensing of lap dancing clubs, free school meals and rules for private landlords, she added.

“The role of an MP is, if necessary, to change legislation in the interests if your constituents,”

she said.