Wrekin: Conservative Mark Pritchard wins seat

The Conservative incumbent won his third election in a row by a majority of 10,743 with 22,579 votes – an increase of nearly 1,000 since 2010.

He fought off challenges from Cath Edwards for the Green Party, with 1,443 votes, Katrina Gilman for Labour with 11,836 votes, Rod Keyes of the Liberal Democrats with 1,959 votes and Ukip's Jill Seymour with 7,620 votes.

Candidates for 2015:

• MARK PRITCHARD (Conservatives) 22,579

• Cath Edwards (Green Party) 1,443

• Katrina Gilman (Labour) 11,836

• Rod Keyes (Liberal Democrats) 1,959

• Jill Seymour (Ukip) 7,620

• Turnout 69.21 per cent

Results from 2010:

• MARK PRITCHARD (Con) 21,922

• Paul Kalinauckas (Lab) 12,472

• Alyson Cameron-Daw (Lib Dem) 8,019

• Malcolm Hurst (Ukip) 2,050

• Susan Harwood (BNP) 1,505

• Conservative majority 9,450

• Turnout 70.1 per cent[/breakout]

Mr Pritchard said: "I have always been convinced based on what I had been hearing on the doorstep not just in The Wrekin but in Telford and in constituencies up and down the country is that the Conservative Party would be the largest party.

"It looks like we are on the edge of a majority but anything over 300 is more than the pollsters were predicting.

"I think in the end the message finally got through to voters that if you want a strong NHS, strong education system, strong defence and public service you need to have a strong economy and people did not want to jeopardise all the hard work that has been put in over the last five years.

"The turnout has been high here which is good, people I have spoken to have said they had not seen people queuing up in those numbers since they started working as election officers."

The number of votes cast was 45,638, a turnout of 69.21 per cent.

Issues around planning and housing development look set to dominate the early stages of the work of the new Wrekin MP.

Whoever is returned will surely be contacted by some or all of the many campaign groups set up to fight building on green field sites in the constituency.

Mark Pritchard for the Conservatives, Katrina Gilman for Labour, Rod Keyes of the Liberal Democrats, Cath Edwards for the Green Party and Ukip's Jill Seymour have spent the past few months battling it out for the seat. Going into yesterday's voteMr Pritchard was favourite to hold on to the seat with Labour and Ukip 16 and 30 per cent behind respectively in the polls.

In and around Newport 1,300 homes are set to be built over the decade – and, potentially, three supermarkets. Villages such as Muxton, Edgmond and Lilleshall also face battles.

Ms Edwards said in the run-up to the election housing had been the hot topic on the doorstep. She said: "Housing is the main problem people are talking about. People do not want it on green fields and we want it to be affordable and have a say in where it goes."

The constituency's several campaign groups all believe they are losing precious green space in their villages and around Newport. The next MP for The Wrekin will have to represent those campaigners' arguments in Parliament and persuade the Government to encourage firms and local authorities to build on brownfield sites.

Of all the campaigns, perhaps the most prominent has been the issue of supermarkets in Newport – a long battle which has dominated the previous Parliamentary term and ended up with the MP calling for the leader of Telford & Wrekin Council to step down.

And, despite more than five years of wrangling, Newport still has nothing to show for the inquiries held and the money spent.

After a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Shropshire Star, the council admitted it had spent more than £1.35 million of

taxpayers' money on supermarket plans in the town.

It revealed the council, either as landowner or planning authority, spent £1,356,620 on applications for supermarkets at Mere Park, Audley Avenue and Station Road.

A breakdown of the figures showed a 2009 application for a Lidl at Mere Park incurred legal costs for the council of £103,510.

Telford & Wrekin spent £359,680 on legal and other costs associated with the Audley Avenue supermarket application – for which permission was originally granted for a Morrisons but no supermarket is now lined up to move in.

The supermarket issue does not look to be going away any time soon. Aldi on Audley Avenue is set to be completed by the summer but the twice-failed Lidl application for Mere Park could yet end up costing the council more money.

And it awaits to be seen who will move into the other space at Audley Avenue.

People in farming communities around Albrighton, Newport and Shifnal might well be concerned about moves to bolster agricultural industries, whereas those in Wellington and Hadley might be more concerned about the encroaching growth of the new town. Other vital issues affecting the patch include Government support for the expansion of Harper Adams University on the edge of Newport.

And residents of the town on the north eastern edge of the constituency will also have concerns over the building of houses on greenbelt land, and the seemingly never-ending tussle to build a new supermarket.

Mr Pritchard originally comes from Herefordshire but has had a home in the constituency since his selection in 2002.

His key opponents are dyed-in-the-wool locals. Ms Gilman grew up on a council estate in Telford, and has worked in both the private and public sectors.

She is focused on the cost of living and concerns over the growth in the number of food banks. Ms Seymour is Ukip's transport spokesman, and is a party MEP after winning a seat in the European Parliament last year.

Since the end of the Second World War, The Wrekin has been represented by nine different MPs – compared to four who have held Shrewsbury in the same period. Yet at the last election, Mr Pritchard achieved the strongest majority in the history of the seat.