History was made in Esher and Walton with its first female MP and first non-Tory to represent the area in more than a century.

Monica Harding from Liberal Democrats was declared the winner with 28,315 votes. Well ahead of John Cope with 16,312, who had been hoping to hold the seat for the Conservatives after Dominic Raab stepped down.

Reform UK’s Alastair Gray finished third on 4,777, followed by Labour’s Yoel Gordon with 2846, Green’s Maciej Pawlik on 1,396 and Social Democratic’s Richard Bateson bringing up the rear on 234.

Monica said: “You never take anything for granted at all. This has been a Conservative seat for 150 years, so the chance of it falling to the Lib Dems was something we’ve only ever dreamed about and it happened today.

“I am also very proud of becoming the first woman elected here. I’m very proud of that, as it’s long overdue. The reason for our success was that people backed the Liberal Democrats policies. Our team has knocked on tens of thousands of doors. We have a very clear idea of what people want. 

“I will not let you down. Thank you very much. I’m honoured and privileged that you put your faith in me and it will not let you down.”

John Cope said results across the country showed the public wanted to vote for change but that they hadn’t been convinced by Labour, “but still wanted to punish the Conservatives for mistakes over the years.”