The political boundaries have been redrawn across England and the new constituency of East Wiltshire is set to be contested for the first time in this year’s general election.

The majority of East Wiltshire will be formed by the soon-to-be abolished constituency of Devizes, which has been represented by Conservative MP Danny Kruger since 2019.

Mr Kruger was elected with a majority of 47.1 per cent and was announced as the Conservative candidate for the new East Wiltshire seat in May 2023.

Pete Force-Jones of the True and Fair Party was the first to publicise that he would challenge Mr Kruger for the seat.

David Kinnaird was also recently confirmed to be the prospective parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats of East Wiltshire.

The new boundary runs down the eastern edge of the county from Wanborough to just north of Wilton.  

A considerable area north of Salisbury will be transferred to East Wiltshire, including Tilshead, Shrewton and Amesbury.

Devizes and its surrounding area will form part of the new neighbouring constituency, Melksham and Devizes.

Meanwhile, East Wiltshire will also pick up some of South Swindon, including the active district of Wroughton and Wichelstowe.

According to an analysis published by the BBC, if the 2019 election had used the new constituencies, East Wiltshire would have still been won by the Conservatives.

Data from YouGov released in January 2024 suggests that the Conservatives are currently favoured for the new seat.

However, their predicted majority sits at 36 per cent, which has fallen significantly from Mr Kruger’s 2019 victory.

The YouGov analysis shows that Labour remains most popular after the Conservatives, despite the party having yet to announce a candidate for the area.

The largest towns of the new constituency will be Amesbury, Tidworth and Marlborough, with a combined population of over 34,000 people.

As well as having been severely affected by recent flooding, the town of Marlborough is facing what has been described as a "housing emergency."

By the end of 2023, the average price of a house in Marlborough on RightMove had reached £498,329, which was double the national average.

At a Wiltshire Council Health Select Committee meeting in November 2023, the mayor of Amesbury, Monica Devendran, reported the struggles local residents were facing in accessing pharmacy services.

The large presence of military camps in the south of the constituency will undoubtedly be considered another important factor for the parliamentary candidates’ campaigns.