Nicholas Soames comfortably held his seat in Mid Sussex last night, despite being pushed hard by the Liberal Democrats.

The Conservative MP saw his majority decrease by about 1,000 votes while Liberal Democrat Serena Tierney increased her party's share by 3,623. Labour suffered a drop of over 2,000 votes.

Laughing as the votes were announced, Nicholas Soames congratulated his opponents "for a good and fair fight".

A shock result was never on the cards after a relatively quiet campaign. Perhaps more surprising was an impressive turnout of 70.2 percent, five percent higher than four years ago.

Mr Soames said: "I am delighted with the turnout. The important thing is that people have taken the opportunity to cast their votes."

Believing postal voting to have played its part in helping the 49,666 voters, he added: "I am in favour of postal voting making it easier for people. It's just got to be managed properly and I expect it has been here."

Mr Soames said he knew of only one voter for whom the system had failed, citing an 84-year-old pensioner who had not managed to vote for the first time after her ballot paper had been lost in the post.

Congratulated for her success, Serena Tierney said: "This is a good result for the Liberal Democrats as well. We have increased our share of the votes and the number of votes by a huge amount."

Optimistic about his party's future, Mr Soames said: "We will see a new generation of young men and women who will fortify the Tory Party's development and long-toothed old dog hounds like me will have had their day."

However, praising the new government, he added: "The last Labour government were out of power for 18 years.

"Theirs is an impressive victory and a great achievement."

He was less generous, however, when describing the Prime Minister's relationship with his chancellor, Gordon Brown.

Mr Soames said: "I don't want to enter into private grief. They'll have to work that out themselves. I suggest they go into relationship counselling."

Elected: Nicholas Soames (C) 23,765.

Not elected: Serena Tierney (LD) 17,875, Bob Fromant (L) 6,280, Harold Piggott (UKIP) 1,574.

Turn out: 70.2 per cent.

Majority: 5,890.