Sir Bernard Jenkin narrowly retains Harwich seat and criticises Reform

The Harwich and North Essex result at Clacton Leisure Centre came in just after 5am, later than the expected 4am declaration as votes were checked in the tight race.

Mr Jenkin said there had “never been a more exciting election”, and thanked residents for voting for him.

He said: “Nationally, we have paid a bitter price for the misfortunes we have faced and the mistakes we have made."

Pylons - Sir Bernard Jenkins said the issue of Essex Suffolk Norfolk Pylons from Tilbury to Norwich was one of two critical reasons for his win (Image: Steve Brading)

Mr Jenkin said that though boundary changes were "tough” for him, there were “two decisive factors” in his victory.

He said being an MP for 32 years meant he had built relationships and trust, and the ongoing campaign against electricity pylons “brought a lot of people over”.

He added: “I think it was a mistake by the Labour party to say that they would drive the pylons through - that cost Alex Diner a lot.”

Asked about the Conservatives' ‘party-gate’ during the coronavirus pandemic after he was twice investigated and cleared, Mr Jenkin said: “I think a lot of trust was lost, over to issues to which you refer, even though I was completely vindicated in my own case in two investigations."

Mr Jenkin said the main issue over trust was the “collapse" of the Liz Truss administration and the “mistakes" made into the implementation of her budget which quickly turned into an economic crisis.

Asked about allegedly racist comments made by Harwich Reform candidate Mark Cole 13 years ago on Facebook, Mr Jenkin said: “In public life you have to be very careful that slang or derogatory language that perhaps you use as a teenager, as a responsible adult you do not use in public life.

“There were far too many Reform candidates who fell into that category and Mr Farage only disowned some of them and that was very disappointing."