Jewish politician Gillian Merron was one of the Labour ministers who was “scalped” by the electorate's swing to the Conservatives early this morning.

Ms Merron had been an MP for Lincoln since 1997, and was minister for public health. She was beaten by Conservative Karl McCartney by just 1,058 votes.

After the result was announced, Ms Merron, who is actively involved with the small Jewish community in Lincoln and a member of Labour Friends of Israel, asked Mr McCartney to “take care” of Lincoln. She said: “I would like to thank the people of Lincoln, I was honoured to be elected Labour MP on the first of May in 1997.

"Every single day since then I have worked hard and done my best for Lincoln, the finest of cities in my opinion. The privilege for me has been to serve the people of Lincoln, who have always been good to me, as I have always tried to be good to them.”

All the results from the key constituencies on our Election 2010 page