A record number of female MPs have been elected to the House of Commons following the General Election.

Some 220 women won seats in the 2019 poll - up from 208 two years ago.

Across Surrey, Sussex and Kent, 15 constituencies are now represented by female MPs.

That includes Rosie Duffield in Canterbury, who held on to her seat for Labour with an increased majority.

Other female MPs to hold their seats were Conservatives Maria Caulfield in Lewes and Tracey Crouch in Chatham and Aylesford, and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas in Brighton Pavilion.

Among the new female MPs is Natalie Elphicke in Dover.

The wife of the constituency's former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke successfully stood for election in his place - and nearly doubled his majority from 6,437 to 12,278.

In Eastbourne the town's former Conservative MP, Caroline Ansell, took the constituency back from Lib Dem Stephen Lloyd. She had lost the seat to him in 2017.

But nationally, men will still considerably outnumber women - with female MPs representing 34% of the Commons.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he's praying that the voices of those "on the margins" will be placed at the centre, in his first reaction to the Election result.

In a series of tweets, Justin Welby also said that those in government and opposition bore a "great weight of responsibility":

Labour's hold on Canterbury was one of the "few beacons of light" in what was "a long dark night", the former Liberal Democrat candidate for the constituency has said.

Tim Walker stood down in Canterbury because he feared dividing the Remain vote, which could have allowed the Conservative candidate to take the seat from Labour.

Rosie Duffield held on to the "ultra-marginal" seat with an increased majority, winning 29,018 votes, ahead of the Conservative candidate Anna Firth's 27,182.

She took the seat from the Tories in 2017 by just 187 votes, and increased her majority to 1,836.

Mr Walker said "the best candidate won".

"It shows what can be achieved in politics when people think for themselves at local level.

"Voters in the constituency can take great pride in the way they put traditional party allegiances to one side and pulled together to get the result that the overwhelming majority wanted.

"This is what democracy should always look like," he said.

The Conservative grip tightened on the region, with increased majorities and a seat taken from the Liberal Democrats.

Chris Morris
BBC Reality Check

The Prime Minister now has a lot of promises to keep and I think we now know, pretty much for certain, that we will leave the EU on 31 January.

That's going to be symbolically, legally, a really important day.

But after that, there are further promises. Number one - to negotiate a trade deal with the EU in pretty much record time before the end of next year when a post-Brexit transition period runs out.

That is going to be difficult to do if the PM also wants the freedom to diverge from the EU rules and regulations that we currently follow.

Promise number two, he's said that he won't extend that post-Brexit transition period, so if a trade deal isn't ready in time, what does he do?

Does he break that promise to extend or does he leave with a new version of no-deal?

So there's a lot of hurdles for him beyond 31 January.

At the moment clearly the focus is on that and it will be an important day - legally we will have left.

But the whole of the future relationship will still be up for grabs.

Conservative minister Helen Whately says the party is committed to delivering on its promise to voters, including those who have never voted Tory before.

The Faversham and Mid Kent MP says it will deliver "both on Brexit, and getting Brexit done but also on public services, the NHS, on education."

Challenged on the impact of austerity policies on services like the NHS, Ms Whately blames the Labour party "for the mess they left us in financially back in 2010".

Questioned on how this Conservative government will improve the NHS, she says: "Now we have got our economy back on track...we are in a much stronger position economically to invest in public services and put more into the NHS as we absolutely want to do."

Andrew Griffith has been elected MP for Arundel & South Downs, meaning that the Conservative Party holds the seat with a decreased majority.

The new MP beat Liberal Democrat Alison Bennett by 22,521 votes. This was fewer than Nick Herbert’s 23,883 vote majority in the 2017 general election.

Bella Sankey of the Labour Party came third and the Green Party's Isabel Thurston came fourth.

• General election 2019: Latest national results
• Election 2019: Election words and phrases explained

Voter turnout was down by 0.7 percentage points since the last general election.

More than 61,000 people, roughly three-quarters of those eligible to vote, went to polling stations across the area on Thursday, in the first December general election since 1923.

Two of the five candidates, Isabel Thurston (Green) and Robert Wheal (independent) lost their £500 deposits after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.

Kwasi Kwarteng has been re-elected as the MP for Spelthorne, with an increased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Labour's Pavitar Mann by 18,393 votes, 4,968 more votes than the majority at the 2017 election.

David Campanale of the Liberal Democrats came third and the Green Party's Paul Jacobs came fourth.

• General election 2019: Latest national results
• Election 2019: Election words and phrases explained

Voter turnout was up by 0.8 percentage points since the last general election.

Nearly 50,000 people, 69.8% of those eligible to vote, went to polling stations across the area on Thursday, in the first December general election since 1923.

One of the four candidates, Paul Jacobs (Green) lost his £500 deposit after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.

Rebecca Curley
Local Democracy Reporter

Conservative Dominic Raab held on to his seat in Esher and Walton but lost his massive majority.

Despite the Liberal Democrats making it a target seat for the party, the Foreign Secretary managed to hold on and win with 31,132 votes.

Monica Harding, the Liberal Democrats candidate, soaked up thousands of votes reducing his majority of 23,000 to just under 3,000.

She won 28,389 votes with Labour’s Peter Ashurst in third place with 2,838 – a massive loss for the party which came in second in 2017.

The second-to-last result of the 2019 general election has been called - a comfortable Conservative hold in Arundel & South Downs.

The final result outstanding, for St Ives, Cornwall, could be some time away after poor weather hampered helicopter flights to retrieve votes cast on the Isles of Scilly. That result could now come on Monday.

Tracey Crouch has been re-elected as the MP for Chatham & Aylesford, with an increased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Labour's Vince Maple by 18,540 votes, 8,082 more votes than the majority at the 2017 election.

David Naghi of the Liberal Democrats came third and the Green Party's Geoff Wilkinson came fourth.

• General election 2019: Latest national results
• Election 2019: Election words and phrases explained

Voter turnout was down by 4.6 percentage points since the last general election.

More than 43,000 people, 59.1% of those eligible to vote, went to polling stations across the area on Thursday, in the first December general election since 1923.

Two of the five candidates, Geoff Wilkinson (Green) and John Gibson (Christian Peoples Alliance) lost their £500 deposits after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.

Roger Gale has been re-elected as the MP for Thanet North, with an increased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Labour's Coral Jones by 17,189 votes, 6,451 more votes than the majority at the 2017 election.

Angie Curwen of the Liberal Democrats came third and the Green Party's Rob Edwards came fourth.

• General election 2019: Latest national results
• Election 2019: Election words and phrases explained

Voter turnout was down by 0.3 percentage points since the last general election.

More than 48,000 people, roughly two-thirds of those eligible to vote, went to polling stations across the area on Thursday, in the first December general election since 1923.

One of the four candidates, Rob Edwards (Green) lost his £500 deposit after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.

Eastbourne saw 57% back Leave in the EU Referendum - higher than the national average of 52%.

Maria Caulfield has been re-elected as the MP for Lewes, with a significantly decreased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Liberal Democrat Oli Henman by 2,457 votes, less than half the majority at the 2017 election.

Kate Chappell of the Labour Party came third and the Green Party's Johnny Denis came fourth.

• General election 2019: Latest national results
• Election 2019: Election words and phrases explained

Voter turnout was up by 0.3 percentage points since the last general election.

Nearly 55,000 people, roughly three-quarters of those eligible to vote, went to polling stations across the area on Thursday, in the first December general election since 1923.

Two of the five candidates, Johnny Denis (Green) and Paul Cragg (independent) lost their £500 deposits after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.

Greg Clark has been re-elected as the MP for Tunbridge Wells, with a decreased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Liberal Democrat Ben Chapelard by 14,645 votes, 1,820 votes less than the majority at the 2017 election.

Antonio Weiss of the Labour Party came third and independent candidate Christopher Camp came fourth.

• General election 2019: Latest national results
• Election 2019: Election words and phrases explained

Voter turnout was up by 0.6 percentage points since the last general election.

Nearly 55,000 people, roughly three-quarters of those eligible to vote, went to polling stations across the area on Thursday, in the first December general election since 1923.

Two of the five candidates, Christopher Camp (independent) and Nigel Peacock (independent) lost their £500 deposits after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.

Jeremy Quin has been re-elected as the MP for Horsham, with a decreased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Liberal Democrat Louise Potter by 21,127 votes, 2,357 votes less than the majority at the 2017 election.

Michael Jones of the Labour Party came third and the Green Party's Catherine Ross came fourth.

• General election 2019: Latest national results
• Election 2019: Election words and phrases explained

Voter turnout was down by 2 percentage points since the last general election.

More than 63,000 people, roughly three-quarters of those eligible to vote, went to polling stations across the area on Thursday, in the first December general election since 1923.

Two of the five candidates, Catherine Ross (Green) and Jim Duggan (The Peace Party) lost their £500 deposits after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.

Conservative Maria Caulfield held on to the Lewes seat but her majority was halved.

Liberal Democrat candidate Oli Henman narrowed the gap to 2,457 from over 5,000 in the last election.

Kelly Tolhurst has been re-elected as the MP for Rochester & Strood, with an increased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Labour's Teresa Murray by 17,072 votes, 7,222 more votes than the majority at the 2017 election.

Graham Colley of the Liberal Democrats came third and the Green Party's Sonia Hyner came fourth.

• General election 2019: Latest national results
• Election 2019: Election words and phrases explained

Voter turnout was down by 1.7 percentage points since the last general election.

Nearly 52,000 people, 63.3% of those eligible to vote, went to polling stations across the area on Thursday, in the first December general election since 1923.

Three of the six candidates, Sonia Hyner (Green), Roy Freshwater (UKIP) and Chris Spalding (independent) lost their £500 deposits after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.