HULL: Bitter exchanges after long night of recounts and cut majorities

Dawn was already breaking over the city hall when Liberal Democrat candidate Denis Healy asked for a recount after the initial poll showed him to be about 650 votes behind Labour's Diana Johnson.

Ms Johnson scraped home with a majority of just 641 after winning 13,044 votes when the result was eventually announced after a second count at 5am yesterday – slashing her previous majority of 7,351.

She made the briefest of speeches, thanking colleagues and supporters and saying she was "delighted" to have been re-elected.

But away from the microphone as she left the stage, she told Mr Healy: "I don't do personal slush campaigns, that's what you have done."

Mr Healy replied: "Do you want to do this now in front of the Press? Let them see, let them see."

Passions were already running high before the second count got under way.

Carl Minns, the Liberal Democrat leader of Hull Council, writing on Facebook, said: "It's a recount. Labour are very angry and screaming abuse at Lib Dem activists (had some choice words aimed at me) same old nasty Labour."

Mr Healy left the floor with a taunt from a Labour supporter ringing in his ears: "Are you going to live in Hull next time?", he shouted, in reference to Mr Healy's home address in Leconfield, near Beverley.

But Mr Healy refused to be despondent and suggested he would be back to try to win the seat again.

"Look how far we've come," he said. "The swing we've had here, if that had been replicated across the country the Liberal Democrats would have 160 seats. I'm up for it, I'm up for Hull, it's going to happen."

The Liberal Democrats had put huge efforts into their attempt to wrest the seat from Labour, which it has held since 1964.

Local Liberal Democrat party activists delivered up to 14,000 leaflets a day in the constituency, and both party leader Nick Clegg and Treasury spokesman Vince Cable visited the city to give personal endorsements to Mr Healy's campaign.

Labour had earlier taken both other Hull seats with comfortable majorities, although its share of the vote fell.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson breathed a visible sigh of relief when he retained Hull West and Hessle.

Mr Johnson had a winning margin of 5,742 votes from the Liberal Democrats, almost half the 9,450 majority he had won in 2005.

Karl Turner was elected in Hull East with a majority of 8,597 – marking a new era for the party in Hull following the retirement of John Prescott, who held the seat for 40 years.