East Wiltshire has bucked the national trend as Danny Kruger has been elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for the new constituency.

Mr Kruger has been MP for Devizes since 2019, but stood for the new constituency of East Wiltshire in the 2024 election, which includes towns from Wroughton, to Marlborough, and right down to Tilshead near Salisbury.

Now, the Conservative has been named the first MP for East Wiltshire with 16,849 votes.

The Labour candidate Rob Newman came second with 12,133 despite Labour winning by a landslide across the UK.

Liberal Democrat David Kinnaird came third with 8,204 votes, Stephen Talbot from Reform UK Third with 7,885 votes, Emily Herbert (Green) fourth with 1,844, and Pete Force-Jones from the True and Fair Party received 278 votes. 

Five Rivers Leisure Centre was divided in halfFive Rivers Leisure Centre was divided in half (Image: Spencer Mulholland)

The huge constituency was off to a slow start as boxes of votes were delayed arriving at Five Rivers Leisure Centre where the count took place.

The hall was split in half, one side for Salisbury and one side for East Wiltshire, and while Salisbury verified a 70.12 per cent turn out and got on with the count, East Wiltshire candidates had an agonising wait as votes were frustratingly behind on being verified.

But arriving at the election count just before 1.30am, Mr Kruger seemed quietly confident and walked in to the news that exit polls showed a 99+ per cent chance of him winning in East Wiltshire.

Speaking to the Gazette and Herald after his win, Mr Kruger said: “I’m very proud and grateful for everyone who voted for me, and I pledge to work for all constituents with great optimism about the future for Wiltshire .

“I’m looking forward to working with whoever becomes the government.”

Danny Kruger is East Wiltshire's MPDanny Kruger is East Wiltshire's MP (Image: Newsquest)

But it wasn’t all celebrations tonight as Kruger added: “The results locally and nationally should be a major wakeup call for our party.”

“I’m very disappointed for my colleagues who are losing their seats.

“All the warnings that I and others made about the danger from Reform UK were not heeded and we need to have a think about why we’re losing voters."

Swindon South, which borders the East Wiltshire constituency, was the first Labour gain to be announced of the night, and voters wondered whether Heidi Alexander’s win in Swindon might be reflected across Wiltshire.

But East Wiltshire voters stayed loyal to the Conservative Party.