Labour have taken the coastal constituency of Dover and Deal with a majority of over 7,000 votes.

Mike Tapp received 18,940 votes seeing off the Reform challenge in second with 11,355 while the Conservatives came in third with 10,370.

Mr Tapp, who was selected for the seat more than two years ago, said he is “absolutely delighted”, adding: “It’s been a two-year campaign.

“We know what we need to deliver here – securing the borders, sorting out the cost of living crisis, ensuring that people can see a GP within 48 hours, getting more police on the streets, these are really important matters here.”

When asked why Labour has received a landslide national victory, he said “It’s Keir Starmer, he’s changed the Labour Party – and that’s really exciting, to come back from one of the biggest losses since 1945.

“Keir Starmer will govern as a changed Labour Party and I’m really excited to be a part of that.”

Voter turnout has been confirmed as 63%, down from 66.4% at the last election in 2019.

Postal votes started being verified in the first stage of the count almost immediately after 10pm when polls closed.

Dover boasted the most candidates of any of Kent’s 18 seats - with 11 aspiring parliamentarians coveting the constituency.

All five major parties - Labour, the Conservatives, Reform UK, Liberal Democrats and Greens put forward candidates.

Additionally, there are three independents, plus small parties - the Workers Party of Britain, Heritage Party and the English Democrats.

After the exit poll released at 10pm, Reform UK candidate Howard Cox said he was “over the moon” with the projection of 13 seats nationally for his party.

Labour is celebrating huge wins over the Tories in Kent, with the Lib Dems also picking up their first-ever seat in the county.

The victories come amid a Labour landslide nationally - putting Keir Starmer in Downing Street with a huge majority.

New Liberal Democrat MP for Tunbridge Wells Mike Martin described the night’s results as a “political earthquake” in Kent.

In Kent, Labour have won 11 seats, the Conservatives have kept hold of six and the Lib Dems have gained one.

It means the Tories have lost in 10 seats in the county they previously held - and even came third in Dover, with Reform finishing second.

At the 2019 general election, Conservative Natalie Elphicke was elected with a majority of more than 12,000.

However, Ms Elphicke shocked the political world by defecting to the Labour Party in May, just weeks before the election was called, despite being considered firmly on the right of the Tory party.

The Conservatives put up Stephen James, the chairman of Folkestone and Hythe Conservative Association, to replace Ms Elphicke.

The polls have long said Labour looked set to storm the seat.

The Conservatives on the other hand were predicted to lose a large share of the vote with Reform’s share denting the Tory result, according to the latest pre-election YouGov poll.

Mr Cox was Reform’s candidate for London Mayor in 2024, and founder of FairFuel UK - the campaign against increasing fuel duty.

Green candidate Christine Oliver said: “We’ve been really well received by people on the doorstep and outside polling stations today – lots of thumbs up, lots of smiles and lots of good wishes.

“We’re feeling pretty confident, looking at the piles of votes that are being counted at the moment, we would really love to hit that 5% and keep our deposit, we didn’t quite get there last time, we hope we’ll get there this time.”

Parties need to get 5% of the vote in a given constituency to retain their deposit of £500.

Dover and Deal is broadly considered a bellwether seat - generally voting for the party which takes the national government - it was a safe Tory seat while Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, and went back to Labour from 1997 to 2010.

The area voted for Brexit in 2016, and as it is the location where many small boats touch down, immigration is a major issue for local voters.

Additionally, despite hosting one of the busiest ports in the UK - Dover itself has fallen on hard economic times, with higher than average unemployment, and a town centre rife with empty shops.

Dover and Deal are the major settlements in the constituency - as well as numerous villages - and the seat has an overall electorate of almost 77,000.

Unlike many Kent constituencies, its boundaries are not changing much in this election.

The only difference in the electoral area is that the village of Worth and its environs are being absorbed into Dover, having formerly been in South Thanet.