DANNY Kruger has been elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for the new constituency of East Wiltshire.
Mr Kruger, who previously held the Devizes seat, received 16,489 votes, but saw his share of the vote almost cut in half from the last election.
The Labour candidate Rob Newman came second with 12,133, on a night when his party secured a landslide victory.
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.
Danny Kruger (Image: Spencer Mulholland)
It is a greatly reduced majority for Mr Kruger, who received more than 32,000 votes in 2019 and had a majority of 23,993.
Mr Kruger said in his winning speech: "My great thanks go to the people of East Wiltshire, the majority of whom have decided to elect me. I promise to work as hard as possibly can for you all and everyone in our communities.
"I acknowledge on this night, while I am very pleased to be elected, it has terrible night for the Conservative Party. I was elected for the first time four years ago on a great wave of hope and optimism that our party could help bring our country together after the Brexit divisions and deliver for all those people who had voted for us for the first time and I am so sorry that it has come to this only a few short years later and there is much for us to reflect on.
"My view is that this disaster has happened because my party has allowed another party to attract so many voters and we have lost so much support from people who should naturally find their home in my party.
"My job as a Conservative MP is to try and reunite the Conservative family. For now the night belongs to Labour and my congratulations to them and I pledge to serve loyally and wish the new government all the best".
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