Tony Baldry (Conservative) scored his sixth election victory in Banbury when he was re-elected as MP for the north Oxfordshire constituency.

He more than doubled his majority -- up from 5,219 in 2001 to 10,797 this year.

Mr Baldry polled 26,382 votes with his nearest challenger, Labour's Leslie Sibley, on 15,585.

In 2001, Mr Baldry was one of five candidates vying for the seat -- with opponents from Labour, the Lib Dems, the Greens, and UKIP.

This year there were seven candidates -- with opposition to Mr Baldry coming from Labour, the Lib Dems, UKIP, Greens, Your Party, and the National Front.

The increase in numbers seemed to favour Mr Baldry. He increased his share of the vote, but Leslie Sibley saw some of his support go elsewhere.

Zoe Patrick increased the Lib Dem vote from 8,216 in 2001 to 10,076, and Diana Heimann almost doubled the UKIP vote (up from 695 in 2001 to 1,241).

Of the remaining candidates, Chris Rowe (Your Party) collected 417 votes, and James Starkey (National Front) gained 918 supporters.

The turnout was 63.8 per cent with 56,199 voters out of an electorate of 88,006 going to the polls. In 2001, the turnout was 61.7 per cent.

Mr Baldry, 54, has already completed 22 years as MP for Banbury after being first elected in 1983 and scoring further ballot box victories in 1987, 1992, 1997, and 2001.

Banbury was regarded as a solid Conservative seat, and was Labour target seat number 32 in this election.

After the results were announced Mr Baldry congratulated the other candidates and thanked his campaign team.

He said: "I will continue to serve the people of this constituency to the best of my ability."

During the last parliament Mr Baldry was chairman of the International Development Select Committee, and a member of the Liaison Committee.