Labour has managed to retain its seat in Rochdale despite the furore caused by Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s “bigot” remark about local voter Gillian Duffy during a visit to the district last week.
Even though the party's vote in the district fell by almost 5 per cent, candidate Simon Danczuk managed to hold the seat for Labour by a margin of about 800 votes.
In London, Labour MP Margaret Hodge comfortably saw off the challenge of British National Party leader Nick Griffin in the district of Barking.
Ms Hodge, who had expressed fears she would not retain the district, increased her vote by significantly, finishing about 18,000 votes clear of Mr Griffin and some 16,000 clear of her nearest rival from the Conservative Party.
Labour also held its seat in the district of Luton South, which had been identified as an area where the Conservatives might make a significant gain.
Despite Labour's MP in the area, Margaret Moran, being one of the first to be caught up in last year's expenses scandal, her replacement, Gavin Shuker was elected comfortably.
Mr Shuker secured about 35 per cent of the vote, some 2,000 more than Conservative rival Nigel Huddleston.
The Conservative Party also failed to win a seat in the key swing district of Edgbaston in Birmingham. Its candidate, Deirdre Alden, was unable to oust Labour's Gisela Stuart from the seat she won from the Conservatives in 1997.
Labour was unable to defend its seat in Battersea in London, where Tory Jane Ellison outpolled Labour's Martin Linton by some 6,000 votes. Mr Linton could not hold on to the seat he secured in 2005 with a majority of just 0.4 per cent. It had been identified by the Tory's as a "must win" district.
Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders managed to increase his vote and retain his seat in the south west district of Torbay. He polled some 47 per cent of the vote, 8 per cent more than his closest challenger Marcus Wood of the Conservatives.
The Lib Dems also captured Burnley and Redcar from Labour and Eastbourne from the Tories but failed to win their number one target Guildford. The party was also unsuccessful in its attempts to take the City of Durham, Newbury and Dorset West.
In the district of Clywd in Wales, the Conservatives failed to make sufficient inroads to oust Labour's Chris Ruane. Mr Ruane saw his vote fall by 3.6 per cent in the poll but he retained his seat by a margin of about 2,500 votes.
In the Sunderland South constituency, Labour held its seat easily with a 10,990 majority. Two neighbouring constituencies of Sunderland Central and Washington and Sunderland West also stayed in Labour hands, as expected.
Agencies