Vince Cable has been re-elected as MP for Twickenham.

Dr Cable, who has held the seat since 1997, saw off a challenge from Conservative candidate Deborah Thomas and Brian Tomlinson, representing the Labour Party.

He polled 32,483 votes, more than 12,000 more than Ms Thomas who got 20,343.

Taking to the stage, Dr Cable thanked his team for their help in securing his win.

He also spent time thanking his voters.

He said: "Above all I'd like to thank the people of Twickenham for returning a majority.

"I've been doing work around the country but the really important thing is the community that I serve and I look forward to the next few years."

Mr Tomlinson polled 4,583 while UKIP's Brian Gilbert got 868 and Steve Roest, of the Green Party, got 674.

BNP candidate Chris Hurst polled 654 votes while Paul Armstrong, of the Magna Carta Party, got 40 and Harry Cole, of Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality, got 76.

Dr Cable joined the Lib Dems shadow cabinet in October 1999 and is the party’s current deputy leader and shadow chancellor.

He has been talked about as a potential chancellor if the election ends in a hung parliament.

But as he arrived at the count he laughed off any suggestion of this.

The turnout for the seat was 75 per cent.

Ms Thomas said she was thrilled to be part of such a "high profile" election race and would not give up her fight for the Twickenham seat.

She said: "I was born and brought up in the borough.

"I'm proud of the campaign we fought. We've run a very strong campaign.

"The battle for the 2015 election starts tomorrow as far as I'm concerned.

"Well, maybe after 24 hours."

Mr Tomlinson thanked everyone for their support and said it had been a pleasure to stand as a Labour candidate in Twickenham.