Conservative Damian Green has won a fifth term as Ashford's MP with a majority of 20,000.

Mr Green has defended his seat - one he's held since 1997.

Ukip's Gerald O'Brien pipped Labour's Brendan Chilton to second place by around 200 votes.

The result was declared at around 5.30am when Mr Green learned he had increased his majority after polling 30,094 votes

He said: "It was better than I expected. I was confident to win it but my majority has gone up again for the fifth time in a row, so I'm thrilled by that and really very grateful to the people in Ashford and Tenterden and the surrounding villages for showing so much confidence in me.

"It will be my fifth term, I have been the MP for 18 years now so I'm very much looking forward to the next five years.

"I think this is an exciting time for Ashford, we've got a new college coming, we've got new transport links with the motorway junction and big new leisure facilities with the new cinema plans. So I think, and I hope, that the town centre will be transformed over the next few years and the people in Ashford will see their quality of life go up.

"Thank you for everyone who voted, not just for me but for everyone else as well. At a time when people are cynical about democracy I think the fact that we had a passionate but civilised campaign here, and that so many people turned out to vote, is a good sign for democracy, and a good sign for Ashford."

Thousands of residents have been voting for their next MP since 7am yesterday, with a turnout of 67.5% in the constituency.

The count at the Stour Centre started at around 2am. The five candidates who battled it out for the Westminster seat are Damian Green (Conservative), Brendan Chilton (Labour), Debbie Enever (Lib Dem), Mandy Rossi (Green) and Gerald O'Brien (Ukip).

Ukip candidate Gerald O'Brien achieved 10,798 votes, narrowly awarding him second place.

He said: "It was always likely we would come second, there has been an amazing conservative majority but tonight it actually got slightly larger.

"Our vote quadrupled so we're well pleased with that. We came second, we lost our deposit last time so we're well pleased with that and I think Ukip have built the foundations for a great future in Ashford.

"The campaign starts on Saturday to make sure we win next time. I don't know how long this government will last, it's likely to be a minority government, but we will be ready.

"Canvas returns didn't suggest we were going to topple him. We thought we were going to come a bit closer than we did but the trend has been towards the conservatives."

Labour's Brendan Chilton came very close third with 10,580 votes.

He said: "I am delighted that just over 10,000 people saw fit to lend me their support in this election. I think we've made very good in-roads for Labour in Ashford. We've increased our vote on last time so I'm pleased with the result.

"Obviously disappointed we didn't quite manage to unseat Damian but we're on the way. I think Ukip at the beginning of this campaign were talking about taking this seat from Damian so I think the fact that we've managed to reduce their second place to just over 200 votes ahead of us is very good.

"Clearly there's a big national swing, there's a rebellion really against establishment parties but I think Ukip won't be around for long."

Debbie Enever, Lib Dem candidate, achieved 3,433 votes, bringing her party in to fourth place.

She said: "I think we are going to have to take some time and take stock. We knew that going into coalition would not help support but it was what was in the national interest."

Green candidate Mandy Rossi came in last with 2,467 votes. The blow means Ashford Greens have lost their deposit.

She said: "I feel pretty good, considering. I'm happy that we've more than doubled what we got last time and just that short of getting the deposit back but it's real progress since last time.

"Round the country we've been getting some good results as well, in terms of winning our deposits and beating Lib Dems. It's a shame we couldn't have done both of that here, but there we go, it's still progress.

"Now, we start getting ready for 2020 and everything that's in between. We've definitely made progress here and I'm really excited to get the results tomorrow. I'm content."

Conservative candidate Alex Howard (pictured above) is Ashford's youngest borough council candidate. But he'll have to wait until tomorrow (Friday) to find out the district results.

There are 85,189 people registered to vote in the Ashford constituency. A total of 57,559 came out to vote in this year's general election.