'New chapter' for Lib Dems in Wiltshire as they celebrate

Brian Mathew has been elected as the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Melksham and Devizes.

He received 20,031 votes, beating Conservative Michelle Donelan who received 17,630, making it a Liberal Democrat majority of just 2,401.

Mr Mathew described the win as a “new chapter.”

Meanwhile, Reform candidate Malcolm Cupis left with 6,726 votes, Labour candidate Kerry Postlewhite with 4,587 votes, and Green candidate Catherine Read with 2,229 votes.

Mr Mathew thanked the teams at the polling stations, the police, and his fellow candidates.

He said: “My biggest thanks have to be to the people of Melksham and Devizes.

“Now is a new chapter and it’s a new constituency, and I very much look forward to serving you in the best possible way that I can.”

This result comes as Labour celebrates a major national win and the Conservatives lose a catastrophic number of seats.

The evening kicked off at Trowbridge County Hall around 10pm as ballot papers began to arrive from across Melksham and Devizes.

A few candidates were already on site to witness the publication of the exit poll, which suggested a Labour landslide.

A verification was then carried out over almost four hours to compare the number of ballot papers in the boxes against the number recorded at the polling station.

Reform candidate Malcolm Cupis was present from the beginning of the evening but chose not to comment whilst the verification was taking place.

At around 2am, the turnout was announced to have been 69.96 per cent for Melksham and Devizes, 38,512 votes were cast at the polling station and 12,894 postal votes were received.

The atmosphere was tense as the hundreds of staff working to sort the ballot papers focused on the task at hand.

Ms Donelan and Mr Mathew were seen watching closely as the votes stacked up, with rumours flying around the hall that it could go either way.

After a couple of hours of counting, the candidates gathered around the stage to hear the final result at 4.30am.

Cheers erupted as Lib Dem Brian Mathew was declared the new MP for Melksham and Devizes.