IT was a bumper night for the Conservative party in East Cambridgeshire as both constituency candidates won seats in Westminster with comfortable majorities. Veteran MP James Paice saw his majority of 8,624 from the 2005 election cut to 5946 thanks to a s

IT was a bumper night for the Conservative party in East Cambridgeshire as both constituency candidates won seats in Westminster with comfortable majorities.

Veteran MP James Paice saw his majority of 8,624 from the 2005 election cut to 5946 thanks to a surge in voter support for Liberal Democrat candidate Jonathan Chatfield, but the shadow agricultural minister still poled some 27,629 votes to take the seat.

Overall Paice, who will now serve his sixth term as South East Cambridgeshire MP, enjoyed some 48 per cent of the vote but rival Chatfield's boost of 3950 votes saw equated to a 2.7 per cent swing from Conservative to Lib Dem.

Speaking after his victory, Paice said: "This is the sixth occasion that I have been elected to represent this constituency and I can tell you that it is just as nerve racking now as it was 23 years ago.

"It has been a very interesting campaign for a number of reasons and I want to repeat my 100 per cent commitment to all people in this constituency regardless of who they voted for."

57,602 people turned out to vote in the constituency, up 5.1 per cent on the 2005 election.

The surprise of the night came with the news that Labour candidate John Cowan, managed to poll 4,380 despite being suspended from the party more than a week ago.

UKIP candidate Andy Monk polled 2138, Simon Sedgwick-Jell of the Green Party polled 766, Independent Geoffrey Woollard 517 and Daniel Bell of the Christian Peoples Alliance polled 489.

In the North East Cambridgeshire seat meanwhile, Conservative Steve Barclay polled 26,862 votes to take the seat with a majority of 16,425 over nearest rival Lorna Spenceley of the Liberal Democrats, who polled 10,437.

Barclay, who secured more than 50 per cent of the vote share, was put forward for the seat after former MP Malcolm Moss decided to stand down for the 2010 election following some 23 years in office.

Turnout for the vote was up more than 12 per cent on the 2005 election with 71.4 per cent of people casting their vote.

Labour hopeful Peter Roberts pulled in 9274 votes, UKIP's Robin Talbot 2991, BNP candidate Susan Clapp scored 1747 votes, Independent Debra Jordan polled 566 and English Democrat Graham Murphy polled 387.