Summary

  1. Result: Michelle Donelan loses Melksham & Devizespublished at 05:01 British Summer Time 5 July
    Breaking

    The Liberal Democrats have won Melksham & Devizes off the Conservatives.

    The seat was held by the Conservatives' Michelle Donelan who was also a Secretary of State.

  2. Post-dawn result for East Wiltshire?published at 04:57 British Summer Time 5 July

    Andrew Hawes
    BBC News, Wiltshire

    The latest stage of the process is the candidates gathering to agree with the officials on what does and doesn't count as a spoiled ballot paper.

    As for when the declaration will finally take place, it feels time for a memorable political quote: "A new dawn has broken, has it not."

    It might be that dawn breaks before we discover our winner.

  3. Result: Tories hold South West Wiltshirepublished at 04:54 British Summer Time 5 July
    Breaking

    The Conservatives' Andrew Murrison has retained the South West Wiltshire seat.

  4. Liberal Democrats gain Melksham and Devizes from the Conservativespublished at 04:47 British Summer Time 5 July

    Graphic showing Liberal Democrats gain Melksham and Devizes from the Conservatives. The winning candidate was Brian Mathew.

    Other recent Lib Dem gains from the Conservatives include:

    • South Devon
    • Winchester
  5. 'Amazing experience'published at 04:44 British Summer Time 5 July

    Andrew Hawes
    BBC News, Wiltshire

    East Wiltshire's Liberal Democrat hopeful David Kinnaird got to know this new constituency with a cycling tour of its wards.

    He said: "I think we probably met 500 people, it was genuinely an amazing experience. Some bits of the constituency didn't realise they were in it.

    "As we got down to the Woodford Valley a lot of people thought they were going to be voting in Salisbury.

    "Many people were quite upset they felt their natural affinity to Salisbury had been taken away from them."

    He also said the battle between Labour and the Lib Dems to identify themselves as the primary challenger to the Conservatives had been vital: "It's very difficult in a new constituency to try to work out exactly where that lies.

    "That second place, does I think, have great sway in all of the tactical voting algorithms. There's no doubt that Labour were boosted by most tactical voting websites calling this for Labour."

    "I found it very hard to call and most voters found it hard to call as well. All I could do was position myself and the Lib Dem policy platform and let the voters decide."

  6. Best shirt of the night?published at 04:37 British Summer Time 5 July

    Marie Lennon
    BBC News, West of England

    The wearer is Al Bayliss, agent for Victoria Charleston, the Lib Dem candidate here in Salisbury.

    How are they feeling?

    Tired, mainly. Positive about how their party are doing across the country, but feeling that here, it hasn’t been enough this time.

    We’re being told we’re a way off results yet.

    Al Bayliss wearing a shirt with yellow, blue, orange and pink flowers all over it at the Salisbury election count as he smiles at the camera
    Image caption,

    Al Bayliss is Victoria Charleston's agent

  7. Chippenham: Who are the snack winners?published at 03:57 British Summer Time 5 July

    Kelly Morgan
    BBC News, Wiltshire

    After a quick visit to the parties' chill out room I can declare that the Lib Dems have the fullest and most enticing table of snacks.

    As candidates and supporters gather around a telly to soak up the national coverage you can definitely feel the atmosphere rise and fall from table to table.

    Lib Dems sat around a table full of snacks such as Jelly Babies and apple juice cartons
    Image caption,

    The Lib Dems seemed delighted with their choice of snacks

  8. John Glen arrives at Salisbury countpublished at 03:50 British Summer Time 5 July

    Marie Lennon
    BBC News, West of England

    Conservative John Glen, who has been MP here since 2010, has arrived at Five Rivers. A reminder, in 2019 he had a majority of nearly 20,000, in a constituency that has voted Tory for 101 years. As his party lose seats across the West, will he retain his?

    John Glen with Labour candidate Matt Aldridge
    Image caption,

    Will John Glen stay put?

  9. East Wiltshire Reform UK reactionpublished at 03:44 British Summer Time 5 July

    Andrew Hawes
    BBC News, Wiltshire

    Reform's performance is one of the talking points of election night, especially after Nigel Farage's election in Clacton.

    The East Wiltshire candidate for Reform Stephen Talbot, feels their ideas of "making work pay" and a "pro-agricultural and pro-forces" messages struck a chord in his campaign.

    He says: "Even with a handful of MPs, we can start asking questions that haven't been asked before."

    Reform UK candidate Stephen Talbot
    Image caption,

    Stephen Talbot believes he struck a chord with voters during his campaign

  10. Independent candidates give their thoughtspublished at 03:35 British Summer Time 5 July

    Sophie Parker
    BBC News, Wiltshire

    Wiltshire saw a large number of independent candidates standing, with two in South West Wiltshire.

    Thomas Culshaw and James Ward have been at the count all night and explained to me why they decided to stand with no backing from a political party.

    They’re both glad they’ve done it - Mr Culshaw said none of the other candidates represented him, he wanted to do it so people had “the opportunity to vote for what I believe in.”

    Mr Ward said people were supportive of him standing: “They said well done for putting your head above the parapet.”

    They might not have the same ideas, but both agree they stood as candidates because they wanted to make a difference.

    Two independent councillors - James Ward and Thomas Culshaw - standing at an election count
    Image caption,

    James Ward (left) and Thomas Culshaw (right) had no backing from a political party

  11. Chippenham: A birds eye viewpublished at 03:28 British Summer Time 5 July

    Carl Humphreys
    BBC News West

    From our vantage point in the gallery watching the count in full swing, with papers piled, checked then cross checked prior to being carefully clipped and placed in the trays. One or two spoilt or unreadable papers checked by the table lead.

    Occasionally calls go out for mini count adjudication, and party supporters momentarily move from their posts to review proceedings at the top table, before preceding back to their previous positions.

    The surprising thing with an election count is, despite the fact we have been here for almost 6 hours, time just seems to rush past, the active counters working away showing as little lethargy as us in the media box.

    With at least 45 minutes until an expected result, it’s all go here.

  12. Former Swindon North MP: 'We deserved this result'published at 03:23 British Summer Time 5 July

    Former Swindon North MP Justin Tomlinson has told the BBC that his party "deserved the result."

    "Colleague after colleague is on the Whatsapp group saying 'I've gone as well', and I couldn't defy that gravity...we had 14 years and collectively we made too many mistakes," he said.

    Media caption,

    Former Swindon North MP Justin Tomlinson MP: we deserved this result

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  13. Time to go home in Swindonpublished at 03:18 British Summer Time 5 July

    Dan O'Brien
    Political reporter, BBC Wiltshire

    Where Swindon votes the country so often follows - Swindon has tonight swapped the two Conservative MPs its had since 2010 for Labour.

    Heidi Alexander’s team in South won comfortably with 48% of the vote, to the Tories’ 27%.

    It was closer in North, Labour only 4,000 votes ahead, but given the previous majority it is a very large shift.

    Both Conservatives Justin Tomlinson and Sir Robert Buckland sounded genuinely emotional in their departures, the personal disappointment clear - but both in different ways took aim at their party’s divisions and lack of inspiration.

  14. East Wiltshire turnout figurepublished at 03:15 British Summer Time 5 July

    Andrew Hawes
    BBC News, Wiltshire

    We have the East Wiltshire turnout figure, which is 63.9%.

    Although this is a new seat, when you tot up the equivalent figures for the last election that's a fall of almost exactly 5%.

    Now the count begins in earnest.

  15. Salisbury turnoutpublished at 03:04 British Summer Time 5 July

    Marie Lennon
    BBC News, West of England

    Turnout has held up quite well here compared to other parts of the country.

    In Salisbury 50,357 people voted, a turnout of 70.12%, slightly down on 2019.

  16. 'Hot and tired'published at 02:49 British Summer Time 5 July

    Marie Lennon
    BBC News, West of England

    We're around 90 minutes away from the results here.

    How are the candidates holding up?

    "Hot and tired and fascinated by this process."

    Barney Norris is the Green Party candidate for Salisbury. It's his first time standing for a political party, and he says he's found the whole experience really emotional.

    He said: "Everyone is going through something that's hard.

    "And I find that moving and emotional to listen to".

    Green Party candidate for Salisbury Barney Norris holding a cup of coffee and smiling
    Image caption,

    This is Barney Norris' first time standing in an election

  17. 'Dreadful night'published at 02:27 British Summer Time 5 July

    Karen Gardner
    BBC Wiltshire

    Former North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson said it has been a "dreadful night" after Labour gained the seat from his party.

    He thanked Will Stone for a positive campaign.

    Will Stone wearing a red rossette
    Image caption,

    Labour's Will Stone gained North Swindon

  18. Chippenham: A 'privileged' role said Deputy (Acting) Returning Officerpublished at 02:26 British Summer Time 5 July

    Kelly Morgan
    BBC News, Wiltshire

    Lucy Townsend has just announced the start of the count saying that fulfilling this role is a "privilege".

    Twelve teams of focussed counters are hard at it in the Olympiad sports hall.

    Lucy Townsend standing in front of a banner of the Westbury White Horse
    Image caption,

    Lucy Townsend - Deputy (Acting) Returning Officer for Chippenham

    A table of counters in the sports hall at the Olympiad Leisure Centre, Chippenham
  19. Michelle Donelan arrives at the Melksham & Devizes countpublished at 02:21 British Summer Time 5 July

    A grim-faced Michelle Donelan has arrived at the Melksham & Devizes count at County Hall. She's served as Secretary of State for Science Innovation and Technology for the past year. With a Labour landslide it's possible she'll be out of that job.

    Can she remain an MP in this new constituency of Melksham & Devizes? Counting is well under way and it's looking tight between the Conservatives and Lib Dems at the moment.

    Media caption,

    Michele Donelan arrives at the count

  20. Chippenham turnout downpublished at 02:18 British Summer Time 5 July

    Kelly Morgan
    BBC News, Wiltshire

    Chippenham is another seat that saw a decrease in ballot papers being submitted this year, compared to 2019.

    2024 - 67.02%

    2019 - 74.38%