MONMOUTH remains the sole Conservative stronghold in Gwent after David Davies was re-elected as an MP for a fourth time.

The Tory backbencher received 53 per cent of the overall vote, which saw 77 per cent of the electorate turn out.

It is the highest turnout in the constituency in four elections, up nearly five per cent on the 2010 General Election.

Mr Davies, who has held the seat since 2005, praised the other five candidates for fighting a “fair and friendly campaign”.

Following the declaration, he said: “That’s the wonderful thing about Monmouthshire and maybe Wales – if you’re Labour or Greens, we have all been out together in town centres."

“There may have been the odd jest - it is a friendly jest. We all have but respect our different values.

“It is clear that something is going on in the country. Although it is early days we are seeing a momentous political event going on.

“I am in support of democracy. If that means that the Tories take a kicking then that’s what I’m willing to take with living in a democracy.”

Speaking before the count, Mr Davies said: “Campaigning went well on the doorstep but nationally it seems not as well.

“The exit polls are very disappointing, it looks like we’re going to lose seats and there’s no guarantee of who is going to be prime minister with it looking to be a hung parliament.”

Mr Davies was competing against two second-time candidates in Labour’s Ruth Jones and Veronica German of the Liberal Democrats. Mrs Jones received the second-highest number of votes with 18,205 votes followed by Ms German with 2,064.

Mrs German was of the opinion that the election, both locally and nationally, was a “two-party race”.

Speaking during the count, she said: “We had a lot of support for the policies that we have particular on Brexit.

“But we found that there was also a lot of tactical voting. Someone people would say that they really wanted to support us but felt they only had to choose between the Conservatives or Labour.

“Smaller parties, including the Liberal Democrats and others, are being squeezed in constituencies like this here and across the UK.”

Also among the candidates was Plaid Cymru’s Sian Damon, Ian Chandler of Wales Green Party and UKIP’s Roy Neale, who was not present on the night.

Mrs Damon received 1,338 votes, Roy Neale 762 votes and Ian Chandler received 954 votes.

Mrs Damon also claimed to have come across tactical voting while canvassing.

“I think a lot of people have realized that politics has got very stale and very unpleasant,” she said.

The part-time teacher added that attempting to gain a foothold in a border constituency was “challenging” but said that Plaid Cymru had policies that would benefit England and Wales.

Speaking before the result, she said: “It was really encouraging to engage with people and hearing what they had to say.

“It’s a positive and a negative in a way. We might not win here today but we’ve got to start somewhere.”