ANN Widdecombe celebrated her last hurrah at the ballot box with a convincing and probably final election victory.

The contest for Maidstone and the Weald constituency was already considered in the bag for the Conservatives as the safest seat in Kent.

The result more than proved it with the MP leaving her closest rival Labour candidate Beth Breeze trailing by 14,856 votes.

It was a close run battle for second place, however, with Liberal Democrat candidate Mark Corney missing out by an agonising six votes.

Turnout was up on 2001 with 66.13 per cent of people casting their votes compared to 61.6 per cent four years ago but down on the 74 per cent who voted in 1997. The total number of people using their democratic right at polling stations across Maidstone was 48,974.

Unusually for someone in her fifth term at Westminster the MP, who plans to step down at the next election, admitted to feeling "terrified" as she prepared to step up to the microphone for the official announcement.

Speaking before the results were declared shortly before 3am, she said: "I never take anything for granted until the last vote is counted and bundled.

"It is an awesome responsibility. The people of Maidstone and the Weald have returned me with a huge majority. I now have to earn that majority. It is not something that ends on the night itself."

Labour candidate Beth Breeze, who remained tight lipped on whether she would stand again as she awaits the birth of her first child, made the best of her first poll defeat.

Referring to what she described as the negative style of campaign run nationally by the Conservatives, she said: "People have voted for social justice and have rejected the policy of fear and intolerance.

Mr Corney, who stood as a candidate in Dover in 2001, said that the Liberal Democrats had made up ground nationally and hoped to make progress locally at the next election. Its share of the vote in Maidstone and the Weald increased from 9,064 in 2001 to 10,808 this time.

The UK Independence Party also improved its share of the vote from 978 in 2001 to 1,463. Candidate Anthony Robertson, said: "We don’t necessarily have to be in government to influence government policy. UKIP are not going away."