THE election in Central Devon mirrored the national picture as Conservative candidate Mel Stride won his seat in the House of Commons with a dominant victory in the polls.

Mr Stride was one of six candidates to contest the constituency and at the vote count in Okehampton College's sports hall, it was evident early on in the evening that Mr Stride had the advantage over his fellow candidates.

A huge turnout of voters — 75.11% of those eligible to vote in Central Devon went to the polls — meant the count led on through the night and the result was announced at 11.20am, nearly six hours after the initial estimated announcement time. Central Devon was among the last 12 constituencies in the country to declare its result.

Mr Stride won 28,436 votes with UKIP's John Conway coming second with 7,171 votes. With 54,636 people visiting the polls, Mr Stride won with 52% of the votes.

Labour candidate Lynne Richards came third in the polls with 6,985 votes. Much like the national picture it was a disappointing night for the Liberal Democrats, with candidate Alex White taking fourth spot with 6,643 votes.

In 2010 the Liberal Democrat candidate Philip Hutty won 18,507 votes — a drop of nearly 12,000 votes in the constituency since the last general election.

The Green Party saw an improved performance on 2010 with 4,866 votes for Andy Williamson while independent candidate Arthur Price picked up 347 votes.

In his victory speech following the announcement Mr Stride said: 'The country has spoken. Perhaps surprising to all of us it has decided there will be a Conservative government.

'I know there are many who, looking at the previous government, did not agree with everything that that government did and were often quite vocal in their approbation.

'To them I say that it is down to me as a member of parliament and down to us as a party and a government to seek to earn the trust of those people.

'There were many many others who perhaps rather quietly were content with the tough choices that this Conservative-led government made in order to heal our economy, bring us back into the black and give us the ability to afford all the public services and the spending commitments that we all want if we are to have a successful and civilised society.

'The greatest privilege and honour of my life was to be elected as the first member of parliament for Central Devon.

'I feel equally honoured and humbled to have been re-elected with such a large majority.

'Regardless of the politics or the outlook or aspirations or whatever it may be of my constituents, my pledge is that I will seek to serve each and every one of us equally and to the best of my ability.'

UKIP candidate John Conway said that the Central Devon vote had gone pretty much as expected but was buoyed by UKIP's performance in the constituency.

He said: 'Getting second spot is a much better performance than last time. It means UKIP is the challenger around here.

'UKIP is going in the right direction across the country.

'Our performance makes us an established national party for general elections as well as European elections.

'Lots of second places and millions of votes across the country means that we will be in a good position to challenge in 2020.'

Mike Davies, newly elected to West Devon Borough Council for Okehampton North and the deputy chairman of the Central Devon Conservatives, said: 'It has been a very good night nationally and locally. There has been a lot of hard work by our members and the whole part and we have got our just rewards for that.'

Fellow Conservative and county councillor for Okehampton Rural Kevin Ball said the national result was 'incredible' and that during his visits to the polling stations they had been 'rammed' throughout the day.

He said: 'A single part majority is better for the country than a coalition government or a hung parliament — that is true generally regardless of the outcome.

'The party has laid out promises for the term and got elected on their own. Now they have to deliver on those promises.'

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