TORY winner Gareth Johnson is celebrating after claiming victory from Labour to become Dartford’s new MP.

The Tories gained a huge margin with 10,628 more votes than Labour.

This allowed the party to snatch the seat back with a total of 24,428 votes.

Mr Johnson said: “It is a great honour to be a member of parliament for my local town.

“We had a bit of a celebration after the election results but now I am now looking forward to getting on with the job.

“I am very keen to be an advocate for Dartford in the House of Commons. The town needs someone to stand up for it and that is what I intend to do.

“There are a lot of people out there who need help in unlocking the bureaucratic systems and that is where I can help.”

During the Thatcher and Major years Dartford was a conservative seat, but in the 1997 Election it was snatched away by retired Labour candidate Dr Howard Stoate.

This election saw the Tories reclaiming the seat after an 11.56 per cent swing with the Labour candidate, John Adams, only gaining 13,800 votes.

Mr Adams said: “Naturally I am feeling disappointed but we fought this campaign as hard as we could.

"This was a strong seat for the Conservatives and they put a lot of resources into this campaign."

There were 3,301 more voters than in the last Dartford election with the Tory win reflecting opinions across the country after the party gained the most seats totalling 307.

However, this falls short by an overall majority by 19 seats meaning the country is in a hung parliament for the first time in 36 years.

Talking about the situation, Mr Johnson said: “It is clearly desirable if we can find a way of forming a stable and effective government.”

MP Michael Fallon held onto his Sevenoaks Tory seat with 28,076 votes followed by Lib Dem candidate, Alan Bullion, gaining 10,561 votes.