By Kaye Wiggins

Merlene Emerson, the Liberal Democrat candidate in Hammersmith, has said she never expected to win the seat and is hoping to win around 20 per cent of the vote.

In a comment on a local blog, posted earlier this week, Ms Emerson wrote: “There was the era known as BC (before Cleggism) and there is the here and now. Let me assure you that Hammersmith now has my full attention – so GAME ON chaps!!”

But she told politics.co.uk the most she could hope for was around 20 per cent of the vote, an increase from the 14 per cent her party won in the Hammersmith and Fulham constituency in 2005.

“I knew I wasn’t going to win, but I did my best,” she said.

She said in future she hoped to stand for the West Central seat in the London Assembly.

The parliamentary result in Hammersmith is expected at around 4am.