The Liberal Democrats have won their first-ever seat in the county in what’s being described as a “political earthquake”.

Mike Martin has taken Tunbridge Wells for Ed Davey’s party, wrestling the formerly true blue seat from the Tories.

Supporters cheered and applauded when the result was announced at Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre around 3.50am.

The turnout was 69.2% with 54,512 votes cast.

Mike Martin secured 23,661 votes, defeating the Conservatives’ Neil Mahapatra who was his closest rival on 14,974.

Reform’s George Gager came third with 6,484 votes, while Labour’s Hugo Pound finished fourth (6,178).

The Green’s John Hurst secured 2,344 votes while Independent Hassan Kassem came last with 609 votes case in his favour.

In his speech, Mike Martin said: "We are standing in the aftermath of a political earthquake, Tunbridge Wells has had a Conservative member of parliament for 114 years - but no more.

"This earthquake, epicentre Tunbridge Wells, reverberates across the country.

"If we look at these results the Conservative party have returned their worst result possibly ever.

"The Liberal party has returned their best result in over 100 years.”

He pledged to do "what is right for the country and what is right for you", addressing the people of Tunbridge Wells.

Speaking after the result, Reform UK candidate John Gager said: "It's been a really intense five weeks for me.

“ I'm obviously brand new to politics, brand new party, new structure, no funding, everything from scratch, no data.

"I'm really pleased with the result, coming third in a very tough race, it was always going to be a difficult race here in Tunbridge Wells and I'm actually very pleased with the result."

He thanked those who went out and voted for him and believed in him and the party.

He added: "This is definitely the start, not the end, we are going to move forward from here and really become a real force against the Labour Party going forwards."

Meanwhile, speaking before the result, independent candidate Hassan Kassem said: “I think the campaign has been going well I’ve had some really good chats with people, and I’ve learnt a lot.”

The independent candidate said that from speaking to people in Tunbridge Wells, many were worried about their services and infrastructure falling apart, while others said they were struggling to live on benefits and can’t afford their rent or food bills.

But he says he’s “feeling excited and nervous” and doesn’t know what to expect with it being his first general election.

“I think a lot of people out there have felt disenfranchised about the whole system of politics and my campaign was run fundamentally about the need to change and I could see there was an appetite for that,” he added.

For the first time in 19 years, Tunbridge Wells is set to get a new MP.

The seat, which has long been a Tory stronghold, had been occupied by Conservative Greg Clark since 2005.

But in May, he confirmed he would not be standing again.

The seat had been blue since the constituency was created in 1974.