Tony Baldry held Banbury for the Conservatives with an increased majority, despite a lower turn-out.

Mr Baldry, who is in his 18th year as an MP, won with a majority of 5,019 - compared to 4,737 at the 1997 election.

Tony Baldry with wife PippaMr Baldry said: "I think this reflects the vote nationally. It shows that the people in north Oxfordshire want to ensure there is a strong opposition in the House of Commons. We shall need to convince people that we have creditable answers on issues such as the NHS, and education."

Les Sibley, who is Bicester's only Labour town councillor, said: "We had an excellent campaign and midway through the count we were in the lead. We fought a good campaign on Labour's record over the past four years."

Tony Worgan, for the Liberal Democrats, said: "We have been campaigning for more money to be spent on the public services. We can look forward to the party growing in the Banbury constituency and to gain more local councillors."

The low turn-out contrasted with reports of voters queuing outside two polling stations in Bicester and one in Banbury.

People were standing 40 to 50 deep outside the West Bicester Community Centre in Shakespeare Drive. There were also queues at Langford Village Community Centre and at a primary school in Banbury.

Mr Baldry said that he thought one of the reasons for queues was because Bicester was a growing town and there was an imbalance between the numbers of voters and polling stations.

Check out the full Banbury results

Check out the full national results