Conservative Richard Bacon won the South Norfolk constituency seat this morning with an increased majority.

While there were political shake-ups across the country, Mr Bacon was on more solid ground as he became MP for South Norfolk for the fourth time since 2001.

The election saw a 71.04pc turnout, 1pc fewer than last year.

Mr Bacon, who was defending a majority of 10,940, saw his majority shoot up to 20,493 as he became the first Norfolk MP announced this morning.

He said: 'It acknowledges the significance of the common sense of the people.'

Mr Bacon hoped his party would have an overall majority,

Liberal Democrat Jacqueline Howe once again took on Mr Bacon and hoped to repeat her strong performance from 2010, when she gained 16,193 votes – however this time around her vote slumped by 11,504 votes leading her to finish fourth. Labour's Deborah Sacks came second – leading her to proclaim her party would now challenge the status quo – and UKIP candidate Barry Cameron came third.

Mr Cameron said UKIP's vote was 'massively up' on 2010.

Mrs Howe said the Liberal Democrats were 'being punished' at a national level.

The Green's Catherine Rowett was fifth in the polls.