MP Eleanor Laing held onto her seat after what she called an “unnecessary” snap election.

The Conservative incumbent won with 31,462 votes, leaving Labour trailing in second with 13,219.

This year’s turnout was 68.12 per cent.

Epping Forest Guardian:

The Epping Forest constituency has been a safe Conservative seat since it first began in 1966 and her win comes as no surprise to both constituents and candidates alike.

Speaking after results were announced, Mrs Laing criticised the need for the election in the first place.

She said: “This surprising and arguably unnecessary election is clearly proving to be one of the most interesting in our history.

“Thank you again for electing me as member of parliament for Epping Forest.”

At the time of writing (4am) a hung parliament is looking more and more likely, meaning a coalition could be formed.

Epping Forest Guardian:

Mrs Laing added: ““We are all very fortunate to live in this brilliant part of the country.

“Our result is earlier than ever before, you deserve all the great commendation for that.

“I would also like to say thank you to all the candidates in this election. It has been very pleasant and dignified here in Epping Forest.”

Mrs Laing has increased her majority in the six general elections she has fought in.

Liberal Democrat Jon Whitehouse came in third with 2,884 votes, with UKIP in fourth with 1,871 votes and the Greens in fifth with 1,233.

The Young Peoples Party no-show candidate Tom Hall finished last with 110 votes.

Liam Preston, Epping Labour party candidate, said: “I am absolutely thrilled that we have increased our number of votes by around 5,000. It shows that across Epping there are more people who are returning to Labour.

“Congratulations to Eleanor, she’s continued to be a fantastic MP for the people of Epping Forest. It has been fantastic getting out and meeting people who live in the constituency.”

Patrick O’Flynn, UKIP candidate, said: “I think most of the national voters were particularly anxious.

“I always knew my vote would be squeezed, but there is no doubting across the country that it has been a bad night for UKIP.”

Green candidate, Simon Heap, said the result went “as expected” believes his party would have done better if the election was in 2020.

Over in Ongar, Michael Burghart has replaced Eric Pickles as the Conservative candidate. , with 34,811 - with a majority of around 24,000.

His Labour rival, Gareth Barrett came second, with 10,809 votes, while Lib Dem’s Karen Chilvers got 426.

Turnout was 70.6 per cent, higher than Epping.