High profile MPs hang on to seats

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon retained his seat

Labour has held most of its traditional strongholds in Notts with ease.

But former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke was easily re-elected in his Rushcliffe seat near Nottingham.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon won in Ashfield, while John Heppell (Nott'm East), Alan Simpson ( Nott'm South) and John Mann (Bassetlaw) all won again.

Vernon Coaker had a tougher race in suburban Gedling, while Graham Allen won in Nottingham North, Alan Meale in Mansfield, and Nick Palmer in Broxtowe.

Paddy Tipping held his Sherwood seat, easily beating his Conservative opponent.

Mr Allen beat his Tory challenger Priti Patel - who ended up with 5,671 votes - by 40%.

Former chancellor Kenneth Clarke easily retained his Rushcliffe seat

Mr Clarke, a former Tory chancellor held his seat with 27,899 votes or 49.54% over his Labour opponent Edward Gamble who had 14,925 votes.

Mr Hoon won his seat handily with 20,433 votes or 48.6%, beating his Conservative opponent Giles Inglis-Jones, who had 24.3%.

In Newark, the Conservatives held another seat with Patrick Mercer winning 21,946 votes or 48% of the votes.

His Labour opponent Jason Reece took 15,482 votes or 33.88% while the Lib Dem's Stuart Thompstone was third with almost 16%.

In Gedling, Mr Coaker retained his seat, beating Tory Anna Soubry by 3,811 votes in a relatively close race.

In Nottingham East, the Lib Dems slipped into second place ahead of the Tories.

Lib Dem Issan Ghazni took 6,848 votes, just 22 more than Conservative Jim Thornton.

The Lib Dem candidate in Nottingham North, Tim Ball finished third with 17.1%, while Irena Marriott of the UKIP had 1,680 votes or 5.53%.

Conservative Jonathan Sheppard finished second to John Mann in Bassetlaw with 29.8%, while Lib Dem David Dobbie was third with 13.6%.

Strong campaign

In Nottingham South, Alan Simpson was returned with 16,506 votes, ahead of his Conservative opponent Sudesh Mattu with 9,020 votes.

Lib Dem Tony Sutton had 7,961 votes in third place.

In Mansfield, Alan Meale took 18,400 votes or 48.07%, well ahead of runner-up Conservative Anne Wright with 7,035 votes.

Independent Stewart Rickersey ran a strong campaign to finish third with 6,491 or almost 17% of the vote.

Lib Dem Roger Shelley was fourth with 13.89% of the vote and Michael Harvey of Veritas won 1,034 votes.

In Broxtowe, Labour's Nick Palmer won 20,457 votes or 41.9% , while Conservative Bob Seely had 18,161 votes and the Lib Dem's David Watts had 7,837 votes.

Labour's Paddy Tipping won his Sherwood seat again with 22,824 votes or 48.4%, while the Conservative Bruce Laughton had 16,172 votes.

Peter Harris of the Liberal Democrats had 6,384 votes or 13.5%" of the total.