THE Conservatives held on to Winchester and Chandler's Ford despite a surge in votes for the Liberal Democrats.

In a clear message to voters in the constituency, MP Steve Brine said he will never take the seat for granted and he had to work extremely hard to hold onto it.

Immediately after the result was declared, Mr Brine called for unity as results indicated the country was heading towards a hung parliament.

The result means that Mr Brine, 43, who won the seat in 2010, will be serving a third term.

Mr Brine said: "I have always said that nobody owns this seat, nobody by right owns this seat, you work hard and get rewarded for the hard work and I will never take it for granted.

"I will represent 100 per cent of people in this constituency.

"We clearly have a more divided country tonight than we have had for a long time we need to try unity over division in this country."

The Liberal Democrats had hoped that they could pull off an election shock by unseating Mr Brine.

They had their reasons to be confident too, as the district voted in favour of remaining in the European Union, which was a strong part of the Lib Dem campaign to offer voters a chance of a second referendum.

They also shaded the vote in the Winchester divisions in the county council elections.

Lib Dem candidate Jackie Porter had 19,730 votes - an increase of 6,219 compared to 2015, when she polled 13,511.

Meanwhile there were slightly fewer votes for Mr Brine who had 29,729 - a decrease of 696, compared to 2015.

Jackie Porter said that the Lib Dems had seen a huge surge in membership, and they had campaigned hard on Europe, the NHS and education funding, and joked that she may be on the podium again in a matter of months.

She said: "The next few months are going to be very uncertain again for most of us, we have no idea of what the future will bring.

"Who knows I may see you again here in a few months."

Labour meanwhile, who had success nationally increased their share of the vote in Winchester, with their candidate Mark Chaloner comfortably in third place with 6,007 votes, and increase of 1,394 votes.

Meanwhile UKIP, had a night to forget as their candidate Martin Lyon had 695 votes, 3,427 down on 2015: he sent out a message that Brexit must be the main focus of any government: "Brexit must now be delivered the country expects that to happen and Westminster must not thwart the will of the people."

Steve Brine (Conservative) 29,729

Jackie Porter (Liberal Democrat) 19,730

Mark Chaloner (Labour) 6,007

Andrew Wainwright (Green) 846

Martin Lyon (UKIP) 695

Theresa Skelton (Justice and Anti-corruption Party) 149

Turnout: 78.98 per cent

Majority 9,999, down from 16,914