THERE were no surprises in the general election vote in Bexley borough's three constituencies.

David Evennett, the sitting Tory MP in Bexleyheath and Crayford almost doubled his majority to 10,344, which he said was due to a combination of hard work by the Tories and the national trend.

He added: "I am absolutely delighted to be re-elected and I look forward to getting down to work on Monday, serving the people of this constituency."

Labour's Howard Dawber had hoped to narrow the gap on the Tories.

He said: "I will see what happens tomorrow. If there has been a higher swing to the Tories in this constituency, I will be disappointed."

James Brokenshire, whose Hornchurch, Essex constituency disappeared under boundary changes, won the Old Bexley and Sidcup seat with a majority of 15,857 and said his key priority was securing services at Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup.

He promised: "I will work with anyone who shares the same desire to see NHS services retained in Bexley for Bexley people."

Mr Brokenshire had moved with his family to the constituency last September.

He said: "We have made Bexley our family home."

Despite that, Mr Brokenshire added: " One always has the belief you are going to win, but I have never taken the voters for granted."

John Hemming-Clark who stood on a platform of Independents to Save Queen Mary's Hospital, collected only 393 votes and said his poor showing had been affected by Tory promises to save emergency services at Queen Mary's if there is a Conservative government.

He said the promise had played a huge part in in producing the relatively high voter turnout in the constituency.

Mr Hemming-Clark added: "I have already spoken to Mr Brokenshire and he has assured us if it is the will of the people in the constituency, he will stop any closures being implemented.

"If he achieves what we set up our party for, we will not be complaining."

Colin Bloom, a former Bromley councillor had hopes of snatching the Erith and Thamesmead seat from Labour, but he lost by 5,703 votes.

He said: "Obviously, I'm gutted. We put an awful lot into our campaign but Labour threw in the kitchen sink at it and got its core vote out.That's life.

"!I wish Teresa Pearce all the very best and hope she will fulfill the promises she made to make Erith and Thamesmead a better place.

Mr Bloom added: "I think Labour has taken Erith and Thamesmead for granted in the past."

Ms Pearce declared the result would herald a new start for Thamesmead.

She said: "I am exhausted, but excited."

She pointed out the demographic changes, boundary changes and the large number of residents in north Thamesmead who were not registered to vote, had made the outcome uncertain even though others considered it a safe Labour seat.

Ms Pearce added: "I am pleased with the turnout and the size of the vote.

"Traditionally, parts of Thamesmead have a very low turnout, these figures make it comparable with other parts of the constituency"

She said she hoped it would be the beginning of them getting involved in community activity.