James Ingham
BBC South Today

Defeated Liberal Democrat candidate in Winchester Paula Ferguson insisted the Liberal Democrats were a "hardened force" in British politics.

The Greens had stepped aside in the hope of Ms Ferguson being elected as a pro-remain candidate, but in the event Tory Steve Brine held on to hold the seat by 985 votes.

"I think if we get to the point where there was a second, confirmatory referendum, I think things could still change. I still say if [the Conservatives] believe everyone still wanted to leave, they would have asked the public directly again."

"There are many, many, many, people who share our liberal values - I've cut Steve's majority by 9,000 tonight and I've only been at this three and a half month, so things can change."

Conservative Bob Seely used his victory speech after winning the Isle of Wight seat to insist the island is "punching above our weight" in winning government funding.

"We need to put the island on the map and get the government to listen to the island. I promise to fight every battle to do my best for the island," he said.

Mr Seely won the seat with 41,815 votes - increasing his share of the vote by more than 5%.

Conor Burns has been re-elected as the MP for Bournemouth West, with an increased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Labour's David Stokes by 10,150 votes, 2,439 more votes than the majority at the 2017 election.

Jon Nicholas of the Liberal Democrats came third and the Green Party's Simon Bull came fourth.

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

Voter turnout was up by 1.1 percentage points since the last general election.

Nearly 46,000 people, 62% 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, Simon Bull (Green) lost his £500 deposit after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.

John Howell has been re-elected as the MP for Henley, with a decreased majority.

The Conservative candidate beat Liberal Democrat Laura Coyle by 14,053 votes, 8,241 votes less than the majority at the 2017 election.

Zaid Marham of the Labour Party came third and the Green Party's Jo Robb came fourth.

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

Voter turnout was up by 0.5 percentage points since the last general election.

Nearly 59,000 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.

One of the four candidates, Jo Robb (Green) lost her £500 deposit after failing to win 5% of the vote.

This story was created using some automation.

Simon Hoare has been re-elected with a majority of 24,301 to represent Dorset North.

The Portsmouth North Conservative MP Penny Mordaunt says people on both sides of the Brexit debate wanted a strong government.

The Tories win their biggest majority since the 1980s, as Jeremy Corbyn says he will not lead Labour into the next election, and Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson loses her seat.

The Conservatives have been celebrating Flick Drummond's resounding win in the Meon Valley constituency.

The former Portsmouth South MP, who lost that seat in 2017, topped the Meon Valley vote with 35,271 votes - a 64.3% share.

Lewis North, for the Lib Dems, came second with 11,716, a 21.4% share of the vote.

Conor Burns has been speaking after he retained Bournemouth West with 53.4% of the votes

"There was an overwhelming sense nationally that the country simply wanted to move on.

"They saw the House of Commons unable to make decisions, paralysed by its inability to decide anything.

"We can finally move on beyond Brexit and on to the things that people really care about - schools, the NHS and local policing"

It's been a conflicting night for Labour's Oxford East MP.

Flick Drummond has been elected MP for Meon Valley, meaning that the Conservative Party holds the seat with a decreased majority.

The new MP beat Liberal Democrat Lewis North by 23,555 votes. This was fewer than George Hollingbery’s 25,692 vote majority in the 2017 general election.

Matthew Bunday of the Labour Party came third and the Green Party's Malcolm Wallace came fourth.

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

Voter turnout was down 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.

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

This story was created using some automation.

Alan Whitehead retained his Southampton Test seat, albeit with a reduced majority. He called for a "root and branch analysis" of what went wrong for Labour across the country.

"It's been a desperate evening for Labour - far worse than I anticipated.

"It's quite clear we didn't get any traction for our message. That's our fault. We need to fundamentally rethink how we can get support for progressive policies."

The Reading West Conservative MP Alok Sharma has paid tribute to the leadership of Boris Johnson

Conservative supports breathed a collective sigh of relief as Steve Brine retained the seat, with his majority reduced from 10,000 to less than 1,000. The Remain supporting city has been a key target for the Lib Dems.

By the smallest of margins, Steve Brine secures Winchester of another term in Parliament.

Mr Brine managed to fight off Liberal Democrat Paula Ferguson to secure a majority of just 985, a huge drop from 9,999 in 2017.

Winchester was a target seat for the Liberal Democrats due to its large Remain vote in the EU Referendum.

Christopher Chope will return to Parliament.

Layla Moran will return for a second term in the House of Commons after securing a large and comfortable majority of 8,943 compared with 816 in 2017.

On a night which has seen her party leader Jo Swinson lose her seat, Ms Moran will no doubt be questioned over whether she fancies a shot at leadership.

Watch this space.