The Conservative incumbent Oliver Dowden held his seat for Hertsmere with a strong majority at the General Election.

 

More than half of votes cast went to David Cameron’s former deputy chief of staff in what was considered a super-safe Tory constituency.

 

Mr Dowden won with 31,928 votes, followed by Fiona Smith of the Labour Party on 14,977.

 

The Liberal Democrats' Joe Jordan got 2,794 votes, David Hoy of UKIP received 1,564 votes and the Green Party candidate Sophie Summerhayes getting 990 votes.

 

More than 70 per cent of resident put something in the ballot box.

 

He said: "I am absolutely delighted and it was a wonderful to get the fantastic endorsement from the people of Hertsmere.

 

"You are always nervous, I never, ever, ever take the electorate for granted, you have to fight for every vote, but it's a fantastic result.”

 

In his speech after the results were announced, Mr Dowden thanked his campaign team, friends and family as well as congratulating their opponents.

 

He said: “"Lots of people in politics get knocked but the fact that all of you have been out working hard, campaigning to convince people of your arguments is a testimony to the power of politics particularly when we see our values under threat from the atrocities we have seen in recent weeks."

 

The count was announced just before 1.40am, well before the 3.30am finish previously anticipated, which may have been the fastest count the constituency has ever had.

 

The Labour Party’s Fiona Smith was happy to have a made gain of nearly 4,000 in the borough, on the 2015 General Election garnering 14,977 votes.

 

She was buoyed by the results to stand again in a further election, although conceded that she may not challenge the Hertsmere seat, and predicted that the results in the borough would reflect the national picture.

 

She said: “The team have worked so hard and they have just had such belief and tenacity in what was always going to be a tough seat.

 

"It has been a fantastic experience and has strengthened my belief that this is an area that I should be involved in.

 

"It has been so much fun and it has been lovely meeting people from all over the constituency and the people I've worked with have been lovely too."

 

Joe Jordan of the Liberal Democrats was also spurred on to stand again despite only achieving a 19 vote increase in Hertsmere with 2,794 votes.

 

He said: “I am very pleased that I managed to convince so many people to vote for the Liberal Democrats and for more tolerance.

 

"This election has been a real challenge, it was always going to be that after 2015, it was going to be a long road to recovery but hopefully nationally we are back on track.”

 

Although UKIP received less than five per cent of the national vote and did not win a single seat in the country, Hertsmere candidate was still happy with the result.

 

He said: "I am feeling quite happy, I think the result was good.

 

"I think a lot of our votes went to the conservatives, after Brexit I feel that was obvious.

 

"I would never consider changing parties, we'll be back again and again and again. Our message is clear.”