Kate Griffiths takes her husband's Burton seat for the Conservatives with an increased majority.

The estranged wife of a former-minister who was involved in a sexting scandal says she is “honoured” to be elected to his former seat.

Kate Griffiths held the Burton seat for the Conservatives, with a majority of 14,496 over Labour's candidate Louise Walker in the seat Andrew Griffiths held for nine years.

"I'm feeling very excited and very, very honoured. The people of Burton have put their trust in me and elected me as their member of Parliament and I’m ready to get to work on behalf of everybody.

“It’s quite overwhelming actually for the number of people to have turned out and voted for me. It’s a huge privilege, this job.”

Image source, PA Media

Mr Griffiths resigned as small business minister in July after a newspaper reported he sent two women more than 2,000 messages in 21 days, weeks after the birth of his first child.

He was cleared of wrongdoing by the parliamentary standards watchdog, which said it found no evidence he sent the messages while engaged in parliamentary activities.

Labour keeps its Warwickshire and Coventry seats with greatly reduced majorities.

Ludlow Conservative MP Philip Dunne described the outcome as a "historic result" for south Shropshire, after he won a majority of 23,648, an increase of more than 4,000.

He claimed 64.1% share of the vote in an area that had had a leave vote of 57.9%.

"We've got the largest number of people voting Conservative ever, got the biggest majority ever and I think that's a huge tribute both to my team in getting, encouraging people out to vote, but also to the residents of south Shropshire.

"[They have] voted very decisively... to make it crystal clear that they want the government to deliver on the referendum result.

"I've spent time across the border in Wales and we've had a number of... historic wins in Wales taking seats that we've not held before and also in the West Midlands.

"I think it bodes very well for... doing [things]... that the prime minister intends to do and then getting on with the people's priorities of trying to make sure that our health service continues to improve. We've got this record investment in acute care in Shropshire, in Shrewsbury and Telford, and we need to get on with that now."

Mark Pawsey, the Rugby Conservative MP, has described the turnout as "great" following his victory.

The turnout in his constituency was 70.2%, a decrease of 0.9%, as he achieved a majority of 13,447, a rise of more than 5,000.

Following his victory, Mr Pawsey said: "One of the concerns I had was that turnout might be lower because of people being frustrated with politicians.

"But the turnout has been high and I pledge myself to continue to work for all of Rugby's residents."

New Coventry North West MP Taiwo Owatemi says she will campaign for the NHS, after Labour held the seat with a majority of 208, compared to 8,580 last time.

The winner, who succeeds 81-year-old former Treasury minister and ex-Jaguar boss Sir Geoffrey Robinson, said: "As a senior counter pharmacist, I have witnessed the devastating impact of Tory cuts on our NHS and I promise that I will campaign for our NHS to ensure we have the right amount of doctors, nurses that we need.

"I will support our local schools and head teachers to ensure they have the funding needed to provide our students with adequate services and I will campaign hard for the green new deal to ensure that the future generation have a Coventry for them to live in."

Brexit promises were "fundamental" to the outcome, say re-elected MPs.

Mairead Smyth
Political reporter, BBC Radio Merseyside

The Conservative Party's new MP for Eddisbury Edward Timpson said it was "fantastic" to get "such a strong mandate".

He secured a majority of 18,443 votes and takes over from Antoinette Sandbach, the former Conservative MP who joined the Lib Dems after she was suspended from the party.

Mr Timpson said he has lived in the south Cheshire area for 30 years and promised more money for schools, hospitals and more help for farmers.

"But first of all, we've got to get Brexit done," he said.

Aaron Bell has become the first Conservative MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme in 100 years.

"It is a verdict on people who sought to frustrate and upset Brexit," he said.

Making his election speech he said he was excited to be part of a Conservative majority that will finally deliver Brexit.

He took 23,485 votes compared to his Labour rival, Carl Greatbatch, who took 16,039.

New Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana admtted it would be "hard" as a newcomer, after she won for Labour with a majority of 401, compared to nearly 8,000 last time.

She claimed the win with 19,544 votes and told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Jim Cunningham has been there for over 25 years so I knew as a newcomer it would be hard.

"But from the start we had a grassroots campaign that worked and was visible on the streets. The cases I feel really passionate about in particular is working on the Grenfell United Campaign.

"Scrapping universal credit is something I firmly believe in. I have seen the hurt it has inflicted on people, on food banks and the homeless."

Ms Sultana apologised earlier this year for saying on social media she would "celebrate" the deaths of world leaders, including Tony Blair.

Second-placed Tory candidate Mattie Heaven added: "I am proud of the team. But we have got 19,143 unsatisfied residents in Coventry South who will not tolerate Labour."

Local Democracy Reporting Service
George Makin

Sandwell's only surviving Labour MP has said "there needs to be a full and proper inquiry" into how the party lost seats it has held for decades.

Image source, LDRS

John Spellar maintained his majority in Warley but Conservatives made gains in West Bromwich East and West Bromwich West, both of which have been held by Labour since they were created in 1974.

"I have to say that inner London has over dominated our affairs at the expansion of the regions," Mr Spellar said.

“Then the people in the North and the Midlands and other parts of the country, outside of metropolitan London, feel they’re being ignored. ”

Local Democracy Reporting Service
Tom Dare

Dudley North's first ever Conservative MP has said he will not let his constituents down as he secured a majority of 11,533 votes.

Marco Longhi replaced Ian Austin who quit the Labour Party in February before encouraging people to vote for Boris Johnson.

“It is time to unite the country and focus on the priorities that really matter to people, but clearly first we need to get Brexit done," Mr Longhi said.

"Now we’ve got a parliament that can start voting things through and getting things done, and done quickly."

"Jeremy Corbyn's actions and inaction on anti-semitism has made us the nasty party," Stoke-on-Trent North's former MP has said.

Ruth Smeeth said Jewish friends had told her they feel a Labour victory would make them unsafe - that is despicable.

"We, the Labour leadership, should be ashamed," she said.

Ms Smeeth lost her seat to Conservative Jonathan Gulbis who took 20,974 votes to her 14,688.

"We are a Labour city, we are a Labour area, so on that basis this is devastating, this is seismic, this is the end," she said.

Dudley North has elected its first Tory MP.

Candidate Marco Longhi was returned as MP with a majority of more than 11,000. Before that, Labour's majority had been 22.

Mr Longhi said it was a staggering result and he was elated.

"I think it is all about what Boris set out, he had the right strategy," he said.

Labour hold eight seats in Birmingham as just one seat in the city changes party hands.

Gary Sambrook has become the first Conservative MP in a constituency carrying a Birmingham name for 22 years.

Birmingham Northfield was the only of the city's seats to change party hands in this election.

Mr Sambrook, who has been a city councillor for Kingstanding since 2014, said he believed the electorate "felt betrayed".

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "The reason we have won in Birmingham Northfield is because of Brexit, because people felt let down, felt betrayed, they felt as though they had been taken for granted for far too long."

Telford MP Lucy Allan says the results are "well beyond anything" she had anticipated, after the Conservatives held all five Shropshire seats with an increased majority.

Her own lead over Labour went up from 730 and 720 in previous elections to 10,941 this time.

The 2019 Conservative manifesto was launched in the area, where 66.2% voted to leave.

The MP, a member of the Education Select Committee, said: "Being the sitting incumbent MP you inevitably have a lot of goodwill on your side.

"The results nationally are stunning and well beyond anything that I had anticipated, despite talking to people on the doorsteps for weeks and weeks, I certainly had not anticipated the scale of the win here tonight."

BBC Hereford and Worcester

Robin Walker, Worcester Conservative MP since 2010, says his increased majority reflects the fact his party has campaigned "very much on the centre ground of British politics".

Mr Walker achieved a majority of 6,758, a rise of more than 4,000, in Worcester, where 53.7% voted to leave.

He also said his result reflected the fact the Tories campaigned to deliver on "what people voted for in the referendum".

"I think what we've seen.... is actually a Conservative party with one of the most centre ground manifestos the Conservative party have put forward any time for the last 30 years, versus a Labour party which has moved way off to the left.

"I would hope actually that they can come back to compete with us on the centre ground of British politics because I think British politics would be healthier for it."

Newcastle-under-Lyme's first Conservative MP for 100 years has said he wants to see "a more vibrant town centre".

"The biggest issues on the doorstep were Brexit, Corbyn and the desire to see improvements in Newcastle town centre," Aaron Bell said.

"I intend to deliver on that last part with the money that's going to be coming through the towns deal and future high streets fund," he said.

Mr Bell secured a majority of 7,446 votes for the Conservatives.

The only Labour MP left standing in Wolverhampton has said the party "needs a new direction as well as a new person at the top".

Pat McFadden maintained a Labour majority in Wolverhampton South East but said he was "very disappointed to lose two good colleagues" in Eleanor Smith and Emma Reynolds who lost their seats to the Conservatives.

"It's incumbent on us to ask some very deep and searching questions," Mr McFadden said, adding that many of the voters he had spoken to were lifelong Labour supporters "who couldn't bring themselves to vote Labour under this leadership".

He described the party as "serial losers" and when asked if Jeremy Corbyn should resign as leader of the Labour Party, Mr McFadden replied: "No leader could stay on after results like this".