HOME Secretary Priti Patel enjoyed a comfortable election night as she increased her majority in her Witham seat.

Conservative Ms Patel secured 32,876 votes and saw the gap between herself and second-placed Labour widen to more than 24,000.

Her majority in 2017 was 18,646.

Ms Patel, whose constituency also includes Stanway and Tiptree, celebrated her victory by stating her party would unleash the potential of the UK after securing a healthy majority in the Commons.

She said: “I am immensely grateful to the people, the voters of the Witham constituency.

“I have enjoyed every minute of the representation I have done for my constituents day in, day out. It is a great privilege to be a public servant and it is something I will continue to do in terms of being a strong voice for Witham through and through.

“I think it’s fair to say from the results we are seeing this evening, it is clear the British people have spoken and they have shown and wanted Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party to break the gridlock we have seen in British politics in the last three years, to get Brexit done and to unleash the potential of our great, great country again.”

Labour candidate Martin Edobor saw his party lose more than 4,000 votes from the General Election in 2017.

He said: “In this campaign, we here in Witham have run an open, positive campaign focused on the polices that we proposed

“However, it is clear that our message is not resonating. Labour must now listen to the nation.

“Not to say to those who think things could be better that it’s not possible, but to truly listen to the people.

“I think it is time for a long period of reflection, not knee jerk reactions but to truly listen.

“I thank each and everyone of you who campaigned for me, supported me and campaigned for me at this election and sorry we have fallen short this time.”

Lib Dem candidate Sam North secured third spot ahead of Green candidate James Abbott.

Mr North said: “It’s clearly been a disappointing night but I think what the Lib Dems have done and will continue to do is work on the local areas and devolved politics.

“It’s about how we affect things at district and county council level that we have been really focusing on, certainly in Witham and Braintree.

“Nationally, it’s been pretty dire. We were hoping for more seats.”

Despite finishing last, Mr Abbott said he was pleased to see an increase in votes for the Green Party compared to the previous General Election where it got 1,832.

He added: “It’s great to see the vote share going up in Witham.

“But on the downside, it’s disappointing to see Brexit was the main issue here.

“I think the Conservatives have mislead the public.

“Brexit will take years and years of negotiations and there is no guarantee the UK will come out of it better off.”

Full Witham results from 2019 General Election

Priti Patel (Con) - 32,876

Martin Edobor (Lab) - 8,794

Sam North (Lib Dem) - 4,584

James Abbott (Green) - 3,090

Turnout 70.4 per cent