David Laws is one of dozens of Lib Dems to lose seat as Ed Balls also defeated

Liberal Democrats David Laws, Jo Swinson and Simon Hughes all lost their seats in Thursday’s general election, as the party saw its number of MPs dwindle from 55 in 2010 to eight.

And in what also proved to be a tough night for the Labour Party, former Children’s Secretary and shadow chancellor Ed Balls was also ousted from his Yorkshire constituency of Morley & Outwood.

Laws, the Lib Dems’ most senior education spokesman and schools minister in the coalition, lost his Yeovil seat by more than 5,000 votes to Conservative Marcus Fysh, seeing his share of the vote nearly halve.

In addition, former justice minister Simon Hughes, an MP since 1983, lost his Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency to Labour’s Neil Coyle, while former equalities minister Jo Swinson was one of many victims to the Scottish National Party's surge north of the border, losing her East Dunbartonshire seat by 2,000 votes to John Nicholson.

Former home office minister Lib Dem Norman Baker, who resigned his government post last November, also lost his Lewes seat to the Conservatives.

Labour’s Ed Balls was unseated following a surge in support for Conservative Andrea Jenkyns, who won the Morley and Outwood seat by 400 votes.