Chippenham Constituency Liberal Democrats Celebrate Election Victory

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 7th Jun 2009

Liberal Democrats in Wiltshire's new Chippenham parliamentary constituency are celebrating victory in last Thursday's elections. Of the 21 Council wards within the constituency, the Lib Dems won 11, beating the Conservatives who took 9 with one Independent. Labour failed to elect a single councillor. The Liberal Democrats elected a majority of the councillors within the two largest towns: Chippenham and Melksham, and all the councillors in Bradford on Avon.

The Liberal Democrats also won the popular vote across the Constituency (LD 43.5%, Con 39.1%, Ind 8.3%, Lab 5.6%). This means that, had these votes been cast in a General Election on Thursday, local Lib Dem campaigner Duncan Hames would have been elected as the Member of Parliament for Bradford on Avon, Chippenham, Corsham and Melksham.

Duncan Hames said: "This is an excellent result for the local Lib Dem team. Despite the Conservatives riding high in the national polls, local people have continued to prefer their local Liberal Democrats. I believe that these victories are a recognition of the hard work that local Lib Dem campaigners have put in for our area.

"They have elected a strong and experienced opposition to the Conservative ruling group at County Hall. We will ensure that the old Conservative administration behind the new Wiltshire Council is held to account for the decisions it makes and the way they spend local taxpayers' money.

"People told me during this campaign, how angry they were about MPs expenses and that they were ready to give the Liberal Democrats a chance after Nick Clegg's principled stand on cleaning-up Parliament and his plan to give them the power to sack errant MPs. Many former Labour supporters have come over to the Lib Dems in part because they understand that here in Chippenham, it's a two horse race between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives."