ANDREW MURRISON has been elected as Conservative MP for South West Wiltshire, polling 25,321 votes, more than half of 49,109 cast, with a 68.5 per cent turnout.

Dr Murrison, who has been an MP for the former Westbury seat since 2001, thanked his supporters and the people of South West Wiltshire after the result was announced at 3.40am.

He said: “You would be a foolish politician if you take any vote for granted, we have fought here to win.

“This campaign has been a joy to be involved in, and I would like to pay tribute to the other candidates who conducted themselves very well.

“It is quite clear from the votes coming in that this is an election like no other. Nationally we simply don’t know what the situation will be.

“I hope very much that Wilfred (Chippenham Conservative candidate Wilfred Emmanuel Jones) will be elected in Chippenham, he deserves to win, but it has been a very hard fight.”

Lib Dem candidate Trevor Carbin received 14,954 votes , Labour candidate Rebecca Rennison received 5,630 votes, UKIP candidate Mike Cuthbert-Murray received 2,684 votes and independent candidate Crispin Black received 446 votes.

There were 91 ballot papers rejected.

Miss Rennison said: “We knew it would be a difficult fight for Labour here in South West Wiltshire but there is a local vote here and we are going to continue to build on that.

“It is obvious that nationally the result for Labour is not as high as could have been hoped and the result here reflects that.

“Now I need a bit of a break to get my life back.”

Turnout was one per cent higher than in the 2005 election although the new seat, with 71,647 potential voters, has a smaller electorate than the former Westbury seat at 82,380.

Dr Murrison polled 44.5 per cent of the vote in 2005, with 24,749 votes out of 55,604.

The Lib Dem candidate received 19,400 votes, Labour 9,640 votes and other parties 1,815 votes.