Celia Barlow's victory was greeted with loud heckling

There was loud and sustained heckling at the count as the victorious candidate, Celia Barlow, made a speech praising Tony Blair.

The Conservatives were second with 16,366 votes and the Lib Dems were third on 8,002 votes, followed by the Green Party polling 2,575.

Labour's Ivor Caplin, who took the seat from the Tories in 1997, stood down at the end of the last parliament.

Brighton seats

Three parties fielded gay candidates, reflecting the importance of the 40,000 gay and lesbian residents of Brighton and Hove who make up 15% of the city's population.

Hove voters had a choice of nine candidates representing parties including the Respect-Unity Coalition and the Silent Majority Party.

Labour's new MP there, Ms Barlow, who opposed the war in Iraq, said she now hoped to take on her parliamentary career with a clean slate.

"I don't think the war helped me, no," she said.

"But at the same time it was an issue I felt strongly about. But now I think we need to look at other issues as well."

Labour also held two other seats in the city - Brighton Pavilion and Brighton Kemptown.

David Lepper held Brighton Pavilion with 15,427 votes, a majority of 11.5%.

The Conservatives were in second place with 10,397 votes, followed by the Green Party in third place with 9,571 votes, and the Lib Dems in fourth place with 7,171.

In Brighton Kemptown, Des Turner held the seat for Labour with 15,858 votes, followed by the Conservatives with 13,121 votes and the Lib Dems with 6,560 votes.

The Green Party election candidate, Keith Taylor, said his gains in the Brighton Pavilion constituency were not from anti-war protesters but people who identified with his party's vision.

The seat was the Greens' number one target at the election and Mr Taylor's vote share is up 12% from 2001.