The Liberal Democrats slumped to their worst result in more than 40 years on a night when David Gauke was re-elected as MP for South West Hertfordshire.

Labour’s Simon Diggins finished second in the party’s best performance since 2001, taking 9,345 votes.

Liberal Democrat candidate Nigel Quinton's total of 5,872 votes is the second-lowest in the party's history in a General Election in South West Hertfordshire, pushing the party down to fourth.

One of the biggest shocks of the night was UKIP’s rise in the constituency.

Mark Anderson delivered the best result in the party’s history in the area, securing 6,603 votes and in the process, guided the party to a third place finish.

Mr Gauke, who increased his majority by more than 8,000- taking his overall majority to 23,263- said there is “nowhere I would rather represent”.

The Tory MP said: "I’m delighted to be re-elected and to have a substantially increased majority is very pleasing. It is a great honour and privilege to serve as MP for this constituency.

"It is my home and there is nowhere I would rather represent, so to have another five years and particularly with a majority of more than 23,000 is very pleasing.

"I hope I have been a conscientious MP over the last ten years and that has helped me but this is a good night for the Conservatives.

"Our economic policies are delivering and the fear of the alternative is one that has driven large numbers of people to vote today.

But it was a disappointing night for the Liberal Democrats, who, at the start of the night, were hoping to keep hold of their second place which they secured in 2010.

Nick Hollinghurst, electoral agent for the Liberal Democrats in South West Hertfordshire, said: "I have to say, I am extremely disappointed.

“I feel the decent values of liberalism, democracy and fairness have not struck a chord with the electorate and I think it is most regrettable.

"It is most unfortunate we have retreated in this way and I feel very sorry and have sympathy for the good men and women who have been MPs and served this country well in the Coalition.

"We are entirely happy with the candidate Nigel Quinton, he acquited himself well in the campaign. We did as much that is reasonable in a non-target seat and played our part in the campaign in Watford as well, which unfortunately we did not get either."

Labour’s Simon Diggins was happy with his performance in the campaign.

He said: “It is a good result for the Labour Party. We have increased the number of votes and we are now second. I am grateful for the support I have received.

“It has been a very difficult night for the party across the country and over the next 24 hours, there will be a lot of speculation.”

The former army officer put the party’s improved performance in the constituency down to “old-fashioned politics”.

He said: “It is about knocking on people’s doors. Some people we have spoken to have said they haven’t had a political party knock on their doors for more than 20 years.

"We have got out there and said ‘I am the person behind the photograph’ and I talk about my politics.”

Mr Diggins has now said he is considering pursuing a career in politics.

The Green Party candidate, Charlotte Pardy, took more than 2,500 votes as the Green Party stood for Parliament in the constituency for the first time and earlier this morning, she said she hoped to use this election as a springboard for future elections.

Graham Cartmell, from the Common Sense Party, won 256 votes.

The results in full are as follows:

David Gauke (Conservative): 32,608

Simon Diggins (Labour): 9,345

Mark Anderson (UK Independence Party): 6,603

Nigel Quinton (Liberal Democrats): 5,872

Charlotte Pardy (Green Party): 2,583

Graham Cartmell (Common Sense Party): 256