THE General Election has been and gone and we have seen local Member of Parliament Michelle Donelan re-elected to represent the Chippenham constituency. 
I think it is worth paying tribute to all candidates who took part for the part they played in the election. 
I know that, despite losing, the Liberal Democrats are happy with their performance.
This is surprising because Helen Belcher had been the Liberal Democrat candidate for Chippenham for nearly a year. If she didn’t have good recognition in the area it is because she moved from Wokingham to Wiltshire only after the election was called, her wife having nominated the Lib Dem candidate in Wokingham. 
The Liberal Democrats, for the second election running in Chippenham, ran a highly negative campaign whilst trying to come across as a holier than thou party that has the ear of the people. 
It is telling that Labour has increased its vote share in Chippenham by the amount it has – it has sucked up the votes of disaffected Liberal Democrats who are increasingly being put off by the Liberal Democrat campaign tactics and attitude of taking the voters for granted. 
Given that the Lib Dems didn’t do too badly in the Wiltshire local council elections, in just over a month they have absolutely tanked.
GARETH MILNER
Chippenham