CHIPPENHAM MP Michelle Donelan is to fight the new parliamentary constituency of Melksham & Devizes for the Conservative Party in the next General Election.

Miss Donelan, 39, has decided to fight the seat being created under the Boundary Commission Review after her current Chippenham constituency was subjected to a 50/50 split.

The review will be finalised by July 1, but the new constituency of Melksham & Devizes will have a prospective electorate of 71,823.

It will comprise of Bowerhill, Box & Colerne, Bradford on Avon, Bromham, Rowde & Roundway, Calne South, Devizes, Melksham, The Lavingtons, Urchfont & Bishops Cannings, and Winsley & Westwood.

Miss Donelan, is currently on a 10-week maternity leave from her role as Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.

She said: “Under the Boundary Commission Review, there have been some quite radical changes in Wiltshire to accommodate a new MP.

“It is all based on making their numbers even. We had constituencies where there were massive numbers of electors.

“We have seen areas explode in terms of housing so they needed to be balanced down again.

“There is a domino effect. If you alter one area, then you have to alter another. It has gone through iteration after iteration. This final iteration is meant to be more like tweaks rather than whole towns.

“It’s definitely not a case of me going for a new one and leaving the old one. Mine literally splits in two.

“It has been a very difficult choice between the two because it has been a 50/50 split and these are the areas that I have represented for over eight years now.

“It was very difficult to make this decision and was one that I didn’t take lightly and that I really thought about.

“But I also live in this constituency of Melksham & Devizes and it felt like the right decision for me.

“It was not an easy one. It’s never easy when you are having to give up areas that I have really worked hard to represent.”

Under the changes, Miss Donelan’s current Chippenham parliamentary constituency will consist of the rest of Calne, Corsham, Chippenham, Lyneham and Royal Wootton Bassett.

The Tory candidate for the Chippenham constituency, which will have a prospective electorate of 71,648, has yet to be selected.

Current Devizes MP Danny Kruger will also see his constituency change. He has been selected to fight the new constituency of East Wiltshire with a prospective electorate of 71,109.

Under the changes, he will lose Devizes, but gain Amesbury. The new constituency will also include Aldbourne & Ramsey, the Avon Valley, Bulford, Chiseldon, Durrington, Ludgershall, Marlborough, Pewsey, Tidworth, Till Valley, Wroughton and Wichelstowe.

James Gray, the current MP for North Wiltshire, also sees changes in his constituency boundaries to create a South Cotswolds seat, with a prospective electorate of 72,865, for which he has been selected to fight at the next general election.

This will take in Abbey, Brinkworth, Bybrook, Chesterton, Cricklade & Latton, Fairford North, Four Acres, Grumbolds Ash with Avening, Kemble, Kingswood, Kington, Lechlade, Kempsford and Fairford South, Malmesbury, Minety, New Mills, Purton, Sherston, Siddington & Cerney Rural, South Cerney Village, St Michael’s, Stratton, Tetbury East & Rural, Tetbury Town, Tetbury with Upton, The Ampneys & Hampton, The Beeches and Watermoor.

Dr Andrew Murrison and John Glen have already been reselected by the Conservative Party to fight their seats of South West Wiltshire (71,551) and Salisbury (70,242) respectively.

Robert Buckland has been reselected to fight Swindon South (72,468) for the sixth time, while Justin Tomlinson will contest Swindon North (72,163).