KIT Malthouse has been re-elected as the MP of North West Hampshire.

He was declared the winner with a majority of 3,288 votes after a closely-contested General Election.

Following the declaration, Mr Malthouse addressed the people who gathered at the counting station.

Despite being re-elected, he shared his disappointment at the national results.

“It's obviously a catastrophic night for the Conservative party,” he said.

READ MORE: Conservatives hold North West Hampshire as Kit Malthouse is re-elected

“My thoughts are with all my colleagues who lost their seats and the staff and families who will be impacted by the losses. It’s devastating when it happens to you. People don’t realise the kind of support that goes behind every MP and it will impact dozens and dozens of people.

“I think most of us had the expectation that it was going to be a difficult night during the campaign. But I think we didn’t realise it was going to be this bad. I think there’s no doubt that over the next few years the Conservative party has to do some serious thinking – what it wants to be in the 21st century, who it wants to appeal to, the kind of country it wants to build and how we want to move to the future.”

Mr Malthouse also spoke to the Advertiser after the announcement.

“I'm thrilled,” he said. “It's fantastic to get back in. I've hopefully done a good job over the last nine years, got some big projects underway, particularly in Andover, and I'm very pleased to have another five years to get them over the line and complete it.

“And I'm extremely grateful to everybody who voted for me, although now that I'm the Member of Parliament and I’m an MP for everyone who didn't vote for me as well. I hope that I'll provide the same kind of service to everyone in North West Hampshire that I have done over the last nine years.”

In his speech, he also thanked the officials for organising a “good and efficient” count and managing polling station for a very large constituency.

The former policing minister thanked his campaign team who he said did a “fantastic job over the last few weeks!. 

“We had a very tough campaign,” he said. “We had to campaign harder than we have campaigned before. Hundreds and hundreds of leaflets have gone through the door. We have knocked on thousands of doors.”

The fourth-time MP also thanked other candidates and said “it’s quite something to put yourself forward for the public office.”

“I think it takes a lot of courage to become a public property even if it’s only for a few weeks,” he said.

“Certainly the advent of social media makes our lives all the hard. You have my admiration and thanks for a very hard campaign.”

SEE ALSO: General election results: Conservatives hold NW Hampshire as Kit Malthouse wins

He also thanked his wife and children and voters for their support.

“My wife has been a source of power during these six weeks, and I’m very grateful for her support over the last 10 years since I was elected as a Member of Parliament.

“And finally my thank you to the people of North West Hampshire who have favoured me once again. Obviously, this is not a resounding result like the last time. So we need to do some thinking about what this result is telling us, but I’m very pleased that I have got another four or five years to complete all the projects I started over the last 10 years to make North West Hampshire continue to be the best place to live in the United Kingdom.”