General election 2019: Conservatives take Ipswich as county turns blue

Tom Hunt said he was quietly confident of victory but was "quite surprised" at the size of his majority

Labour have lost their only Suffolk MP to the Conservatives on a night when most Tory MPs in the county returned with an increased majority.

New MP Tom Hunt secured 5,479 more votes in Ipswich than Labour's Sandy Martin, who used his speech to accuse the Tories of a deceitful campaign.

Mr Hunt said voters felt "betrayed" by Labour's position on Brexit.

Tory James Cartlidge was re-elected for South Suffolk with a record majority for the seat of 22,897.

Mr Hunt, who worked as chief of staff for the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said he canvassed in "strong Labour areas".

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"A lot of lifelong Labour supporters had grave concerns about Jeremy Corbyn and his capacity to be prime minister," he said.

"I think our position [on Brexit] resonated with a lot of people.

"I've got to make it my job not to let them down."

Sandy Martin, seen here during the count, accused the Tories of undermining democracy

Mr Martin, who had been Ipswich's MP since 2017, said: "The message that comes out of this country, for me, is that the only way we can win elections now is by lying, just as it's happened with Trump in the US.

"I think the Conservatives need to be aware of the undermining of democracy."

Analysis by Ben Parker, BBC Suffolk political reporter

When the exit poll came out at 22:00 it looked as though Ipswich would go to the Tories.

But the scale of the victory for Tom Hunt was unexpected, with a majority of 5,479.

The seat has followed the national trend of leave voting seats ditching Labour.

Defeated candidate Sandy Martin gave an explosive speech after being voted out, blaming the Conservatives' campaign for his loss. Mr Martin said it was not a fair fight.

In Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, Dr Dan Poulter increased his majority by more than 5,000 votes, securing 35,253 votes and a majority of 23,391 over Labour's Emma Bonner-Morgan.

"It's been personally a good result, but now it's about getting on with the job and making sure we begin the process of healing some of the damaged rifts caused over the last three years, and governing as a one nation Conservative party," he said.

James Cartlidge has held the seat since 2015

Mr Cartlidge, who took 33,270 votes, secured a 22,897 majority over Labour, the largest since the seat's inception in 1983, and up from 17,749 in 2017.

"We needed a strong majority to break that logjam, to move the country forward and I think that's what the people have voted for," he said.

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Health secretary Matt Hancock was returned to his West Suffolk seat with a 65.8% majority, up 4.6% on 2017. He polled 33,842 votes while Labour saw their vote shrink to 10,648 from 14,586.

Elsewhere, Suffolk Coastal MP Therese Coffey returned with a slightly reduced majority but still polled 20,533 more votes than Labour.

Jo Churchill defeated Labour's Cliff Waterman in Bury St Edmunds by 24,988 votes, 6,547 more votes than her majority at the 2017 election and Peter Aldous held his Waveney seat with 62.2% of the vote, an increase from 54.4%.

Matt Hancock increased his majority in West Suffolk