REBECCA Pow has become the first Conservative MP to be returned to Parliament to represent Taunton Deane for three terms since the days of the late Sir Edward du Cann, who won nine elections between 1956 and 1983 before standing down in 1987.

Despite the turnout this time being slightly lower than in 2017, down 1.9 per cent to 71.9 per cent against 73.8 per cent in 2017, Ms Pow increased her share of the vote by almost one per cent to 53.8 per cent with 831 more votes than in her 2017 victory.

Ms Pow’s share of the vote was the largest for 68 years since Conservative Henry Hopkinson won 54.36 per cent in 1951.

The defeated LibDem candidate Gideon Amos saw his vote increase as the Labour vote fell by more than half from 2017. Mr Amos’s vote was up by 5,018, almost exactly the number by which the Labour vote fell, while the Green Party withdrew as part of a national pact with the LibDems.

John Hunt, standing as an Independent, received 2,390 votes for a 3.8 per cent share.

In Wellington, voting was heavy all day on Thursday at all six polling stations in the town despite the wet weather. So much so, that at tea time voters were arriving at the Baptist Church polling station in South Street at a rate of almost 250 an hour and were queuing in the rain to get in.

Conservative town and county councillor John Thorne, who visited both the Wellington Rugby Club and Baptist Church polling stations before attending the count in Wellsprings Sports Centre, Taunton, told the WWN: “Other than the 2016 EU Referendum, I had never before seen such a rush of people wanting to vote.

“In the evening I was at the Baptist Church and the rain was pouring down and the voters were pouring in, some of them getting soaked through as they waited outside to come in the door.

“It was humbling and impressive to see how passionately people wanted to use our democratic process to express their frustration at the past three years of Parliamentary delaying tactics since we voted as a country to leave the European Union.

“It was absolutely clear from the conversations I had that people in Wellington and Rockwell Green were fed up to their back teeth with our MPs sticking up two fingers at the public and they wanted to see Boris Johnson able to take full control so he can could get on and deliver for them.

“Wellington and Rockwell Green have been staunchly Conservative for several General Elections now, and it was heartening to see that after the kicking voters gave council candidates like myself in the May local elections for Brexit not being delivered, they returned in their droves to put the Party in charge again.

“It was like a blue tsunami of votes coming out of the ballot boxes as they were emptied onto the counting tables in the sports hall which quickly made it very clear what the overall result would be when it was finally declared shortly before 4.30 am in the morning.

“Communities I represent as a county councillor on the Blackdown Hills, such as Churchinford and Bishopswood, were showing almost three-to-one support for Rebecca Pow, it was incredible to see.

“The only disappointing note of the night was seeing so many Labour voters switching to the Lib Dems as a tactical vote to try to stop Conservatives winning. I have always believed in using my vote for what I believe in, not to vote against something I don’t like.

“Labour’s candidate Liam Canham, who comes from Wellington, is a decent guy and really deserves better from his supporters, so I hope that next time they will back him in a positive way and give him every chance to win instead.”