Election 2017: Iain Duncan Smith clings on to Chingford and Woodford Green seat as his majority falls

It was a tense evening for the Conservative candidate as he was re-elected but his majority was cut to just under 2,500 votes.

The Conservative incumbent celebrated as he held onto his seat but noted that it “had not gone well” for his fellow Conservative candidates across London.

Mr Duncan Smith won by 23,076 votes, whilst Labour candidate Bilal Mahmood trailed closely behind with 20,636 votes, a difference of just 2,440 votes.

In 2015, he was elected to Parliament with a majority of 8,386 votes but the turnout increased from 43,804 in 2015 to 47,131 residents exercising their democratic right in the constituency.

After the result was announced, Mr Duncan Smith told the Recorder that he was hugely pleased to have been returned to parliament by his constituents.

He said: “I’m enormously pleased to be re-elected after serving the community for so long.

“I’m determined to carry on serving residents and getting the best deals for them.”

When asked about the state of affairs for his fellow London Conservative candidates, Mr Duncan Smith admitted that it “had not gone well” but added that overall, there had been some good results.

Liberal Democrat candidate Deborah Unger came third with 2,043 votes whilst Sinead King, of the Green Party, scored 1,204 votes.