It’s a clean sweep for Labour in the Medway Towns as they secure all three of the seats up for grabs.

Labour’s Lauren Edwards unseated Kelly Tolhurst of the Conservatives who had held the seat since 2015.

She polled 15,403 votes to her Tory rival’s 12,473 in a closely fought contest.

In third came Reform UK’s Daniel Dabin on 9966. The full list of results are below.

The seat had been held by the Tories since 2015, before that being held by Mark Reckless who defected to UKIP and won the 2014 by-election.

The Conservative candidate Kelly Tolhurst had represented the area since 2015 and was elected in 2019 with a majority of more than 17,000.

But Labour, the favourite among pollsters, especially considering the win last May at the local elections when Labour ended 20 years of Tory rule at Medway Council, have emerged victorious.

The last time Medway was represented by Labour in parliament was between 1997 and 2010 when Bob Marshall-Andrews won the seat.

After her win, Lauren Edwards said: “It feels overwhelming, but I'm ready to crack on. We've got a really strong mandate for a Labour government. I'm really excited about the programme that we can deliver.

“I want to get as much investment and growth as I can here in Rochester and Strood, really deliver for the people, and I'm just really keen to start work.”

She said getting the NHS “back on its feet” was one of her main priorities for the area and said she would serve constituents across the seat, rural and urban, and try to connect with those who did not vote for her.

She also said she would be supporting her predecessor Kelly Tolhurst’s request for call-in on the Chatham Docks decision - which Tolhurst said was a significant concern following her defeat.

Medway Council leader Vince Maple said he was very happy with the results, and paid tribute to the hard work of the outgoing MPs.

He added: “It’s fantastic to see the people of Medway once again trust Labour and we now have three fantastic MPs in Tris Osborne, Lauren Edwards and Naushabah Khan.”

Key moments from the count:

5:07am : Labour win Rochester and Strood

3:30am : Cheers from Daniel Dabin’s camp (Reform UK) as Nigel Farage elected in Clacton.

2:31am : Turnout in Rochester and Strood: 57.5% - 42,733 votes.

1:44am : Glum faces amongst the Conservative cohort. From what can be seen on the benches the main contenders are Lauren Edwards (Labour), Daniel Dabin (Reform UK), and Kelly Tolhurst (Conservatives) - with no clear frontrunner.

10pm : The exit poll suggests Rochester and Strood will be won by the Labour party.