THE 2017 General Election has "changed the political landscape".

Those were the words of Sir Desmond Swayne, who retained the New Forest West seat.

Sir Desmond issued a warning to his party that they might have to go through the process again sooner than five years as the Conservative was unsure of the plan ahead.

Despite winning his seat with 33,170 votes, the New Forest West MP said that Brexit negotiations had to be the main focus, with the rest of the party's manifesto 'for the birds'.

It was the second Tory hold in the Forest, with Julian Lewis increasing his majority in seats both have held since 1997.

Sir Desmond said: "I think it has changed the political landscape a little bit.

"The whole point of this election was to give us as strong a hand as possible to go into Brexit negotiations and that has to be our focus.

"The rest of the manifesto - and it wasn't well received - is for the birds.

"Even if we secure a small majority, we have to power through.

"Of course I am very pleased to have won the seat and to carry on representing the people of New Forest West, and I will do all I can for them."

FULL RESULTS:

Sir Desmond Swayne (Conservative) 33,170

Terry Scriven (Liberal Democrat) 4,781

Desmond Hjerling (Pirate Party UK) 483

Janet Richards (Green Party) 1,454

Jo Graham (Labour Party) 9,739

Turnout: 72.3%, with 49,627 votes cast, and 98 spoilt papers.