New Torbay MP Steve Darling hailed a ‘Lib-demolition’ of his Conservative opponent on a night of triumph for the Liberal Democrats in Devon.

Mr Darling, who leads the Lib Dem group on Torbay Council, swept to a stunning general election victory as the county turned on the Tories.

Conservative candidate Kevin Foster won the seat for his party in 2019 with a majority of 17,700, but that was destroyed as Mr Darling was returned with a majority of more than 5,300.

Mr Darling said people wanted a local champion, and he pledged to fight for Torbay in his new role at Westminster.

“I’m humbled and delighted at the same time,” he said. “I’m so looking forward to championing the community that I grew up in and trying to help people. It’s also about supporting our community and bringing about the change that we all know is needed here.”

Mr Darling said his years working with former bay Lib Dem MP Adrian Sanders would stand him in good stead, and now “the pupil had become the master.”

He continued: “I know what makes Torbay tick. I want to make sure that I go out and listen and engage with people. I want to hear the challenges so I can bang the drum in Westminster for Torbay.

“And having other local Liberal Democrat MPs in parliament is heartening. Devon and Cornwall are often forgotten by Whitehall. We can gang together and drive positive change for our area.”

Mr Foster and his party supporters had known from quite early in the count that the writing was on the wall, as the piles of votes mounted up.

He said some voters may have been put off voting for local grassroots Conservative candidates by the conduct of high-profile figures in the party.

He said people had been turned off by party in-fighting, and added: “People have seen performative politics rather than really focusing on the day-to-day delivery of effective government and of people’s priorities.

“It’s not all just the fault of the national party, but I think we can look back to things like partygate, the Liz Truss administration and some of the jockeying for position. Even the night before the general election we were seeing a leading Conservative figure making pitches for leadership.

“We need to get back to basic disciplines, basic professionalism and really start working hard on our offer for the future.”

He said it would have been arrogant to assume that the 8,660 people who voted for Reform in the bay would have voted Conservative if Reform hadn’t been there, but he said the party needed to do more to address people’s concerns about things like migration and small boats crossing the Channel.

Third in the poll was Reform UK’s Gordon Scott, who said he was pleased with his haul of 8,660 votes, and had no regrets about the damage that might have done to Kevin Foster’s chances.

And he said if the campaign had gone on longer, his party would have picked up even more votes.

“It’s a great stepping stone,” he said. “As we look to the 2029 general election we will get on to the doorstep and put this Reform message out there.”

He said taking votes from Kevin Foster’s Conservative campaign did not worry him at all.

“The Conservatives have failed to deliver on their manifesto,” he said. “We want a government that serves the people once again.”

The full Torbay result was:

Steve Darling (Lib Dem) 18,937

Kevin Foster (Con) 13,588

Paul Moor (Workers Party) 234

Gordon Scott (Reform UK) 8,660

Charlie West (Green) 1,420

Chris Wongsosaputro (Lab) 3,276.

Turnout 60.7 per cent.  LIB DEM GAIN FROM CON