General Election 2019: John Hayes wins South Holland and the Deepings seat

Sir John Hayes (Con) has retained the South Holland and The Deepings seat with a significant majority.

Cheers rang out as Acting Returning Officer Rob Walker announced that Sir John had once again won the seat he has held for more than 20 years.

Speaking after the result Sir John was delighted with the result and would give his "heart and soul" to the job.

He said: "I am elated with the result and very humbled by it. To have that many people support me is a great honour and a big responsibility to represent those people."

Sir John was also thrilled to increase his majority and in terms of the votes he received.

He achieved 75.7% of the vote.

The full results were:

Martin Blake (Green) 1,613 (3.3% of the vote)

Sir John Hayes (Con) 37,338 (75.7%)

Davina Kirby (Lib Dem) 3,225 (6.5%)

Mark Popple (Lab) 6,500 (13.2%)

Rick Stringer (Ind) 503 (1%)

Also...

• Election count gets underway in Wisbech
• Majority increased in Fenland
• Candidate hopes this will be the building block for the future