MARIA Miller has retained her Basingstoke parliamentary seat with a thumping victory.

The Conservative candidate won 25,590 votes – just over half of all the votes cast – almost trebling her majority to 13,176.

After the result was announced at Queen Mary’s College, in Cliddesden Road, Mrs Miller told the audience: “I have tried to work hard for all areas of Basingstoke and I hope the result reflects that.”

Her victory primarily came at the expense of Labour, which lost a third of its 2005 vote. Labour's Funda Pepperell finished the 2010 election with 10,327 votes.

The Liberal Democrats moved into second place in Basingstoke, with John Shaw securing 12,414 votes, up 2,462 from 2005.

UKIP candidate Stella Howell received 2,076 votes and Steve Saul, Basingstoke Common Man, 247.

In North West Hampshire Sir George Young retained his seat for the Conservatives with a massive majority of 18,583, up from 13,264 in 2005.

He received 31,072 votes, while Liberal Democrat Tom McCann secured 12,489, Labour’s Sarah Evans 6,980 and UKIP’s Stan Oram 2,751.

North East Hampshire has not declared yet.