DESCRIBED as a "marginal" seat just days before the polls closed, Conservative candidate Paul Holmes lost out to Southampton Labour stalwart Alan Whitehead by more than 10,000.

Mr Holmes said: “It’s not marginal any more. We fought very hard in this seat. We had an issue with our manifesto launch and some of our policies concerned some of our core voters.

“In some areas like Shirley we didn’t do particularly well. We clearly needed to fight harder and we will be back.”

But Alan Whitehead stormed to victory and held onto his longstanding seat - which he has had since 1997 - making this his 20th year in office.

Although surprised at his large majority he said his success was due to being out and about knocking on doors “in a way that Southampton hasn’t seen for years.”

He credited the "organisation that we put in place to bring the result about" and said that was the "very heart" of the campaign.

He thanked his team but joined Jeremy Corbyn in calling for Theresa May to stand down as Prime Minister after she failed to strengthen her mandate in parliament.

He said her “credibility as PM is called into question” - and that she must be in a “desperate position within her own party”.

Running for the first time as the Southampton Independents, candidate Andrew Pope said: “As I said to my team, whatever happens with the result, Southampton Independents have won. We only started the party in March and we have had a fantastic campaign.

“Even our opponents have applauded our campaign, the Conservatives and Labour because they are getting it on the doorstep that people don’t want the same old story.”

The party was set up without funding. He added: “The only help we get is we get one free delivery with Royal Mail. It’s cost us thousands of pounds of our own money.”

Keith Morrell of the Putting People First group was the only independent candidate running in Southampton Test. He said: “It’s the first time I have stood as an independent candidate and I did it because I believe a lot of people are unhappy with the mainstream political parties.

“I don’t expect to win - it was more a demonstration of what my group stands for - and to tell people 'we’re still here'.

Lib Dem Thomas Gravatt - a first time candidate and the youngest in the area at 22 - said: “It was never a seat that we were going to win this time.

“But we found that people were on the whole very positive and the hatred people have for Conservatives held the Labour vote. And from what I’ve heard the youth vote was very good. We made a small squeeze on the anti-Tory vote.”

Alan Whitehead, Labour 27,509 - Elected

Paul Holmes, Conservatives 16,006

Thomas Gravatt, Liberal Democrats 1,892

Keith Morrell, Independant 680

Andrew Pope, Southampton Independents 816

Turnout: 67%