The MP for South West Wiltshire, Andrew Murrison, has said the future is bright for his area of the county.

Mr Murrison has represented South West Wiltshire for over two decades and was first elected in 2001, when the constituency was still known as Westbury.

Its redrawn boundaries mean that the southeast of the constituency will lose a considerable section to Salisbury.

The Conservative MP said: “I very much regret losing constituents who I’ve represented for the past 14 years, and no member of parliament wants to see their constituency altered, so I’m very sad, but it’s an inevitable consequence of trying to equal up the number of voters in each constituency.”

Wiltshire Times: Andrew Murrison has been the MP for the area since 2001.
Since representing South West Wiltshire, Mr Murrison has also worked in roles such as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Security Strategy, and most recently, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence People and Families, a position which he has held since 2022.

Referencing his 43 years of service background, he said: “I’m pretty clued up when it comes to matters that relate to one of the biggest employers in this area, which is defence.”

When asked about local affairs, Mr Murrison said: “I think the issues in my area are very similar to the issues across the country, which is to say, it’s important that we continue to make good progress with the economy, so that people notice an increase in their standard of living, their disposable income, so that they can see that things like the health service are improving, that education continues to do well against international league tables, and that they feel safe.”

He noted that there were problems more specific to the constituency, such as the movement of heavy vehicles through residential settings.

He added: “We’ve got issues around the high streets of our small towns needing to be lifted and improved so that they are attractive places for people to be and for businesses to set up.”

The MP said his priority was continuing to support “a government that is getting the economy back on track following the trauma of the COVID years.”

He said: “Locally, I think it’s quite a good time to be in this area, I’m always an optimist, but we’ve got a number of initiatives which will hopefully come to fruition in the foreseeable future.

“For example, I’m campaigning hard for a bypass at Westbury.

“I definitely think we could make some progress against the incinerator plan for Westbury.”

Mr Murrison concluded: “I think the future is bright for our area.”