NEWLY elected Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire Chris Davies has admitted his surprise at his margin of victory over the Liberal Democrats.

The Powys County Councillor won the seat with a majority of 5,102 over Roger Williams who had been the MP since 2001.

Speaking to The Brecon & Radnor Express at the count at the Pavilion in Llandrindod Wells after being confirmed as the first Tory to win the seat since 1992, Mr Davies said: "We certainly felt the election was going our way and felt that in the last few weeks particularly.

"But I did not expect to receive such an overwhelming majority. I've had great support from the people of Brecon and Radnorshire and I'm humbled.

"I now have a big job to do to represent this wonderful constituency and its wonderful people. I'm looking forward to delivering for them for the next five years."

Mr Davies polled 16,453 votes to easily see off Mr Williams whose winning total of 17,929 from five years ago was reduced to just 11,351 leaving him in second place.

As the Brecon and Radnorshire result was confirmed shortly before 3am an exit poll carried out for the major broadcasters was still predicting the Conservatives to have the most seats, but fall just short of an overall majority.

However it was clear from an early stage the party would take Brecon and Radnorshire and the Conservative were heading for a good night in Wales. Mr Davies said he was still hopeful the Conservatives could win an overall majority.

He blamed fear at the rise of the Scottish National Party (SNP) for faltering Lib Dem support locally and driving voters to the Conservatives.

"On the doorstep in the last few weeks there has been a lot of concern about Ed Miliband/SNP taking charge of the country. In the past people may have been prepared to make a protest vote but have given their vote to the Conservative party at this election."

In his victory speech Mr Davies paid tribute to Mr Williams, who like him had also been a Powys County Councillor before his election to Parliament.

Mr Williams received a long and loud ovation from the assembled crowd at the Pavilion. He closed his speech saying: "Thank you all very much for coming along this evening, you probably haven't seen the last of me."

Across the UK the Labour Party suffered a disappointing night and its local candidate Matthew Dorrance's 5,904 votes was only a slight improvement on the party's 2010 total but enough to maintain third place.

UKIP'S Darran Thomas however could take pride in the party beating Plaid Cymru to the fourth place finish. Mr Thomas polled 3,338 votes a significant improvement on the 876 the party polled in 2010.

Though Plaid Cymru slipped from fourth to fifth position Freddy Greaves increased its 2010 total of just 989 votes to 1,767.

The Green Party can also take comfort from an increase in its votes. Though Chris Carmichael finished bottom of the pile his total of 1,261 was a significant increase on the 341 votes the party won in 2010.

Turnout in Brecon and Radnorshire was 73.76 per cent compared to the UK figure of 65.2 per cent.

The TV exit pol has predicted the Conservatives will win 316 seats and Labour 239 and the Lib Dems just 10. The story of the night was the political revolution in Scotland with the SNP on course to take all but one seat.

7am Update

Broadcasters are now predicting a small Conservative majority government. The party is expected to gain 329 seats, 326 are required for a majority.

In Wales the Conservatives have enjoyed their best election since 1983.

After all 40 Welsh seats declared Labour topped the poll with 25 seats but the story of the night was the Conservative performance.

The party gained three seats, winning Gower and the Vale of Clwyd from Labour, as well as Brecon and Radnorshire from the Lib Dems

The Conservatives now hold 11 seats in Wales.

Plaid Cymru held onto its three seats while only Ceredigion remained Lib Dem yellow.

Though UKIP failed to win any seats in Wales it boosted its share of the vote by 11.2 per cent on five years ago to finish third in Wales.

UKIP won 13.6 per cent of the vote across Wales, Plaid 12.1 per cent, the Conservatives 27.2 per cent and Labour 36.9 per cent.

The Lib Dem vote collapsed by 13 per cent, leaving them with just 6.5 per cent of the vote.

Turnout across Wales was 65.7.