NATIONALLY, it may have been a night of uncertainty, but in Basingstoke there was no question over who was the voters’ choice as Conservative Maria Miller retained her parliamentary seat with a thumping victory.

The Tory candidate won 25,590 votes – just over half of all the votes cast – almost trebling her 2005 majority to 13,176.

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

Mrs Miller said she had focused on a positive campaign, and added: “It is that positive manifesto that has delivered such a positive result in Basingstoke.”

The Tories had been nervous all evening as they watched the television at QMC to see whether they would win enough seats to form the next Government.

But their nerves turned to huge smiles of joy as the scale of Mrs Miller’s runaway victory dawned on them.

When she left the hall, Mrs Miller, who went into the election as Shadow Minister for the Family, did not know whether the Conservatives had won the election nationally and whether she would be receiving a call from party leader David Cameron to become part of a new Government.

Looking at the national picture, Mrs Miller told The Gazette: “What we have seen is some important results throughout the country, but particularly in the South East.

“We have made important gains against both the Liberal Democrats and Labour parties which shows it’s the Conservatives that people want to represent them.”

Mrs Miller’s 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.

Mrs Pepperell said she had been welcomed on doorsteps around Basingstoke and added: “If we had a different national climate, I’m sure Basingstoke would be red.”

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

He said the Liberal Democrats best result in Basingstoke since 1987 had established the party as the main opposition to the Conservatives.

Mr Shaw added: “I’m encouraged because there was a lot of enthusiasm about our message, particularly from young people.”

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

Turnout, at 67.1 per cent, was up but not breaching the 70 per cent mark which caused problems at polling stations in some parts of the UK.