DAMIAN Hinds retained his East Hampshire seat in last Thursday's General Election by polling a whopping 31,334 votes for the Conservative party.

Mr Hinds, 45, goes into a second term with a decisive 48.7 per cent majority of 25,147. It is a significant gain for the father of three who in the 2010 election polled 29,137 votes, which propelled him into office with a 26.3 per cent majority.

His closest rival in the 2015 election was UKIP candidate Peter Baillie on 6,187, ahead of Liberal Democrat Richard Robinson on 5,732. Labour's Alex Wilks polled 5,220 while Peter Bisset took 3,176 votes for the Green Party.

For full story and election results round-up, see this week's Liphook Herald.