Results and reaction: Here's all you need to know about how Banbury's 2019 parliamentary seat was won

Despite the hype and closing poll data the night belongs to the Conservatives.

There were a few surprises, with Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson losing her seat and the DUP deputy Nigel Dodds losing his seat to Sinn Féin and strong gains for the SNP, but for anyone not wearing blue, optimism had all but ran out before midnight.

The feeling was the replicated in Spiceball Park Leisure Centre where the Banbury constituency ballot papers were being counted by teams of volunteers.

For as most of us can remember Banbury has always been a Conservative stronghold and tonight was no exception.

Overall 70.24 per cent of registered voters cast a ballot, surprisingly down from 73.59 in 2017.

In total 62,921 votes were cast, with 355 rejected.

The votes per candidate were as follows:

Tim Bearder, Lib Dem - 8831 votes; (2017 Lib Dem votes - 3,452)

Ian Middleton, Green Party - 3607 votes; (2017 Green Party votes - 1,225)

Victoria Prentis, Conservative - 34,148; (2017 Conservative votes - 33,388)

Suzette Watson, Labour - 17,335 votes; 2017 Labour votes - 20,989)

As the votes were being counted candidates remained positive; Suzette saying: "It was really positive, a really good campaign and I am happy with that."

Tim Bearder said of his campaign: "I saw my old German teacher who came to the hustings and yeah, it was it was a lot of fun."

Green issues were at the fore during the campaign trail, borne out by Ian's canvassing conversations, he said: "It was good to be having conversations on the doorstep with people about climate change."

But the night belonged to the Conservatives and incumbent Victoria Prentis who said, while watching the results come in: "The campaign went well but this is extraordinary, another world isn't it."

It was just a short time later that her return as Banbury MP was confirmed. In her acceptance speech she thanked her team, thanked the other candidates for a respectful campaign and promised to get Brexit done.

Her full speech can be viewed above.