WITH THE only party change in the News Shopper area, Dartford’s election night was an exciting event.

Despite 3,301 extra votes than the last election, the count went really well and the result was announced at 3.30am.

Inside the count at Acacia Hall in the high street, the 54 counters concentrated thoroughly but also seemed to be enjoying their job.

The counters were made up of Dartford Council staff, their families and friends.

Inside the count the atmosphere was calm, but you could feel the tension in the air after rumours circulated early on in the night that the Tories were likely to take the seat from Labour.

The candidate for the Fancy Dress Party, John Crockford, put smiles on people’s faces throughout the evening with his multi-coloured flowery outfit and so did his supporters, with one dressed as comic book character, Bananaman.

And Mr Crockford kept the fun alive by getting on the microphone after the result was announced.

He told the newly elected Gareth Johnson, to ‘look out’ after his party received 100 per cent of votes from a classroom of young schoolchildren in the borough.

The election saw the Tory party receive 5,225 more than the 2005 election, whereas Labour received 6,109 less votes than the previous election.

The Liberal Democrat party gained 7,361 votes which was an increase of 2,325 votes compared to the 2005 election and despite not winning Lib Dem candidate, James Willis, said he was happy with the result.

Talking after the result, Mr Willis said: “We are a new party in Dartford and we now have to continue fighting.

"We have gained but Labour has moved backwards."

Mr Willis said the one improvement he would like to see for the next election is to see more supporters on the ground.

Tory Michael Fallon was re-elected as MP for Sevenoaks with a total of 28,076 votes. This was an increase in votes by 5,639 on his previous win in the 2005 Election.

Mr Fallon said: "I am delighted and extremely humbled to be re-elected."

The MP said his immediate priorities include making it easier to remove travellers who have trespassed on land and making more grammar school places available to students