Falmouth's re-elected MP has thrown her support behind Theresa May and said she is not worried about her party's new links with the hard right Northern Irish DUP.

Truro and Falmouth remained a Conservative constituency following Thursday's general election, but MP Sarah Newton a much reduced majority while Labour ran a close second as the Liberal Democrats' ended third with a smaller share of votes.

Following the declaration on Friday morning, Mrs Newton had more votes than in 2015 but a much reduced majority of 3,792, compared to 14,000 two years ago.

Asked whether Mrs May was right to call an election which has gone badly for the Tory party, she said: "Hindsight's a wonderful thing. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do because at the last election we hadn't had the referendum.

"It was important that the prime minister tried to get a big majority, a really good majority, so she could get the best possible deal for us from the EU."

Mrs Newton, who received 25,123 votes, said just after the results were announced that the election had seen people choosing between Labour and Conservatives as they left the Liberal Democrats and UKIP, and she was happy to increase her vote despite Labour gains.

She said: "I'm obviously really, really pleased that people have continued to put their faith in me."

Nationally the election result means the Conservatives remain the largest party in parliament, albeit without an overall majority, and Theresa May has been criticised for reducing her power ahead of Brexit with an unnecessary election, while the party is on course to ally with the the DUP - a right wing Northern Irish unionist party with extreme views on women's and LGBTQ rights.

Mrs Newton told the Packet she thought Mrs May would last as Prime Minister, as she had "accepted her personal responsibility for her mistakes," and there would not be a Tory leadership battle or another general election in the near future.

She said the party would not be entering a coalition with the DUP, but asking for support on economic and Brexit related policies.

She added: "The PM has confirmed there will be no backsliding on LGBT rights, in fact we want to move even further forward. Concerns have also been raised about the impact of any arrangement with the DUP on the Government's relationship with the devolved government of Northern Ireland. I am pleased that the PM has confirmed that any arrangements will need to ensure that the devolved administration can move forward."

Her main opponent, Labour's Jayne Kirkham, whose 21,331 votes showed a 13,500 increase on 2015 and a 22.5 per cent swing, said she was "amazed, excited, shocked" by the party's gains, but also "just a tiny bit gutted" at having got "almost far enough."

She said: "Next time the people of Truro and Falmouth will know its a two horse race here now.There's no point tactical voting for the Lib Dems."

She added: "We've got now what looks like a Tory minority government that might go in with the DUP. We'll see how that goes but we might be back here before too long."

Liberal Democrat candidate Rob Nolan, who polled 8,465 votes, up in number on 2015 but down as a percentage of ballots cast, denied the party's support had collapsed.

He said: "People talk about the Lib Dem vote collapsing here, but it didn’t, it increased in line broadly with the increase in turnout. If you look at the detailed ward by ward figures from the count, there was a migration in Falmouth and Truro from us to Labour, while in the villages and rural areas we saw a migration to us.

"What did change was that a large number of people decided, for many the first time, to vote.

"That is really good for our democracy and for the future, because people should take an interest. Of course I wish they had voted for me this time, but I’m certain that once various promises get broken, and the true Corbyn agenda is revealed, we will see a swing back to us."

There was a 75.9 per cent voter turnout for Truro and Falmouth, with two other candidates, Duncan Odgers of UKIP and Amanda Pennington of the Greens, polling 897 and 831 respectively.