Kemi Badenoch, the new Conservative MP for Saffron Walden, said the road ahead would be "tougher than expected" because of the party's losses elsewhere in the country.

"I never thought it would be easy," she said. "I don't think the campaign lost momentum - I think given how well-regarded Theresa May was, she chose to make tough decisions, and we had an opponent who was promising the earth.

"It looks like people didn't like tough choices we were making. It's never easy to sell tough choices."

Harwich & North Essex MP Bernard Jenkin, who retained his seat for the Conservatives, says politics "is becoming unpredictable".

"I wonder if the country is going to wake up tomorrow expecting this result," he said. "I think we are seeing a return to two-party politics."

Image source, Conservative Party

"Lots of people who voted Liberal Democrat, who liked left wing policies, now see a Labour leader who reflects their views.

"It's a revival of the 1970s Labour party. Whether that makes them electable in the long term, we shall see. We saw in the 70s how destructive those policies can be - this country was on its knees."

It's not even 04:00 and all 18 constituencies in Essex have declared their results.

We have a full set of Conservative MPs, with only one constituency changing hands - and that was Clacton, which has gone from independent under Douglas Carswell to Conservative with Giles Watling.

We'll continue to bring you updates from those who competed for the seats and have analysis of what it all means with regards to the national picture.

The Conservatives have also retained Witham, where Priti Patel gained 31,670 votes, beating Labour into second place.

The Tories have held on to Saffron Walden, where Kemi Badenoch has become the MP. She's taken over the mantle from Sir Alan Haslehurst, who announced his retirement when the election was declared.

James Cleverly is back in for the Conservatives in Braintree, where he's been elected with a majority of more than 18,000.

Brentwood & Ongar has been held by the Conservatives, with a new MP - Alex Burghart - winning 34,811 votes.

He was selected as the party's candidate after Sir Eric Pickles announced he wouldn't be standing again and was retiring.

The surprise in the constituency is that Labour came second - the best result for the party for many years.

We're still waiting on election results from four Essex constituencies - Braintree, Witham, Brentwood and Saffron Walden, where Conservative Kemi Badenoch is hoping for success.

She was selected as the party's candidate after Sir Alan Haselhurst announced his retirement. He'd been the MP there since 1977.

Elsewhere, Maldon has been retained by John Whittingdale and the Conservatives.

He's said he's confident in Brexit going ahead as planned, even if nationally the Tories don't end up with a majority.

Giles Watling has regained Clacton for the Conservatives. It was a UKIP seat until earlier this year when Douglas Carswell left the party and became an independent.

In 2015, UKIP gained 19,642 votes. This year, it was just 3,357.

Jackie Doyle-Price has held on to her seat in Thurrock by a very slim majority of 345.

"It is an honour and humbling to be elected," she said. "I will continue to serve the people of Thurrock as I always have done."

She also paid her respects to Labour's John Kent, who almost pipped her to the post.

With 24,046 votes, the Conservatives have held on to Southend West. Labour came second and the Lib Dems third, with UKIP's vote falling by 13.8%.