ON a tumultuous election night for the Conservatives, when Theresa May lost her majority in the House of Commons leaving a hung parliament, Tory MP Mel Stride held on to his Central Devon seat with a comfortable win.

Mr Stride secured 31,278 votes, finishing comfortably ahead of Labour candidate Lisa Robillard-Webb, who finished second on 15,598.

Liberal Democrat’s Alex White finished third with 6,770 votes. The Green Party’s Andy Williamson secured 1,531 votes, ending the night ahead of UKIP candidate Tim Matthews on 1,326. John Dean of the National Health Action Party received 871 votes and Lloyd Knight of the Liberal Party won 470 votes. Voter turnout was 77.9% in the constituency.

Mr Stride said it was a ‘huge honour and a privilege’ to be re-elected as MP for Central Devon, a seat he has held since 2010.

He said: I will continue to fight for our local communities and for all the communities and constituents of Central Devon regardless of their political persuasion. I will continue to represent us in parliament with vigour, with drive and determination.

‘At a time when we’ve had the atrocities in Manchester and the more recent atrocities in London, and some little while ago we had the attack on the cradle of our democracy, the House of Parliament themselves — it is a great tribute to all of us standing in this election and to candidates up and down the country that we carried on with democracy regardless. I think that is a very special and a very beautiful thing.’

Despite Mr Stride’s dominant win locally, his rivals for the Central Devon seat said the election result showed that large parts of the electorate rejected the Conservatives as their voice in upcoming Brexit negotiations.

Andy Williamson of the Green Party said the result was ’an attempt by the electorate to assert some intelligence over the catastrophic incompetence of this Tory government.’

He added: ‘I am not shocked or surprised really. In fact I am very pleased by what has happened.

‘I wouldn’t rush to call it a surge for Labour though, but rather a surge against the Tory party. People have been desperate to vote against the Tory party. I thought that those voters might be split between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, but Jeremy Corbyn has provided leadership that has been lacking in the other larger parties, besides the Green Party and maybe Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland.

‘This future government, whatever shape it takes, will have the job of unpicking the incompetence of the Conservatives, having led us into a pointless referendum, and their incompetence in other areas too. Policy after policy seems to have been conjured up on the back of an envelope over a glass of brandy at a golf club.’

Liberal Democrat candidate for Central Devon Alex White has predicted another general election ‘in around six months’ time’ after exit polls have predicted a hung parliament.

Mr White said: ’Nationally there has been a huge Labour surge, which is a big surprise so late on. Nationally the Liberal Democrats have held our own, gaining in some places and losing in others. It seems we have made gains in areas that voted Remain in last year’s referendum.

‘We will now have more MPs, which is a small improvement, stage by stage, on the 2015 election.

‘Locally we’ve put in a very thorough campaign, with lots of activity. It has been bigger and better for us this time around.

‘Due to the national picture it has been a two party squeeze. Theresa May framed this election as a “presidential race” between her and Jeremy Corbyn and it seems that is how voters have seen it too.

‘The result means more uncertainty than before. Theresa May only had a small majority before, but at least she had one. Now it is looking like a hung parliament, her hand has been weakened. Who knows what will happen now? I think there could be another election in around six months’ time with all this uncertainty.’

Notable in his absence at the election count at Parklands Leisure Centre in Okehampton was UKIP candidate Tim Matthews, who announced on the stroke of midnight that he was leaving UKIP in order to join the Conservatives.

Mr Matthews, speaking to Alan Quick of the Crediton Courier, said he was grateful and humbled by the support he received from people who voted for him in the election but said UKIP had ‘veered into extremism and racism’, which was ‘not morally or politically acceptable’.

Despite remaining the largest party, the Conservatives failed to win the seats necessary for a majority in the House of Commons. For the time being this leaves a hung parliament, with the likelihood being that the Tories will either rule as a minority government or try to form a coalition, potentially with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland.