Conservative: Michelle Donelan

I love our constituency and was first elected in 2015. My career was in marketing in the media sector. I went to a state school and was the first in my family to finish university. I honestly do not believe there are enough opportunities for everyone in this country, which was in fact the reason I entered politics and the theme of my first speech in Parliament. I believe an MP’s job should be to knock down barriers, open doors and create opportunities for all.We need a fairer society and I want to help create this – a country where there is not just a safety net but also ladders up. My passion is education and I have campaigned for years to give Wiltshire schools more money. This has proved successful and our schools are now to get a minimum of £5,000 per pupil for secondary schools and £4,000 per pupil for primary schools. I have worked to tackle Wiltshire’s skills gap including organising Wiltshire Festivals of Engineering. Over 4,000 children attended the last one. I was recently appointed as an Education Minister responsible for Children and Families. I have always tried to be as accessible as possible with surgeries in supermarkets, pubs and cafes, having stands at village fetes and street stalls. I visit a business a week, do democracy workshops in our schools, hold on average two surgeries a week and organise events from over 55s events to disability confident schemes.

I am a Christian who loves her family.

Labour: Martha Anachury

I am your Labour candidate for Chippenham constituency and if you want to help make a difference to our community you should vote for me. I believe in fairness and equality and my pledge to electors is that if I become your MP I will work as hard as I can to give you a voice and make this corner of Wiltshire an even better place to live. We already have some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain and I want to keep it that way. Farmers will be among those hardest hit if Boris Johnson wins and pushes ahead with Brexit. It could lead to swathes of Wiltshire being abandoned by dairy and sheep farmers. This in turn will make it harder to resist pressure for large housing developments like those which already surround our main towns. More houses means more roads and more traffic. It is the Conservatives’ dream of helping their friends get even richer. Housing development should be sustainable and include local employment opportunities to cut down the need for long distance commuting. As an MP I will use the skills I have learned representing thousands of people working in education across Wiltshire and Swindon. I am opposed to services such as hospitals being moved further and further away at the same time as public transport is being cut. In addition to the environment my main priority will be education so we can offer the next generation the opportunities they need to do well in an increasingly competitive world.

Liberal Democrat: Helen Belcher

Helen is a former teacher, school governor, computing professional and business owner. She has campaigned on numerous issues over the last decade, including press regulation reform, same-sex marriage and changing the way we elect our politicians. She was a witness at the 2012 Leveson Inquiry into press standards and ethics.

Helen has worked for three years to ensure that the final Brexit deal is put before the people to approve, and believes that our best option politically, economically and socially, is to remain as full rule-making members of the EU. She has seen how Brexit has paralysed the Conservative Government since 2015. She thinks that democracy does not require people to stop campaigning for what they believe in.

Remaining in the EU by stopping Brexit will boost our economy, enabling us to resume our world-leading position in tackling the climate crisis as well as being able to invest much more in our over-stretched, local public services, including the NHS and social care, police and schools.

Locally she wants to see more integrated public transport, work on dedicated routes for walkers and cyclists, and attract more GPs and nurses into the area. She has been active in the local community, supporting groups such as TransCoCo in Corsham, Doorway in Chippenham and Wiltshire for Refugees, as well as speaking at last year’s BoA Women’s 100 celebration.

Hoping to become Chippenham’s next MP, Helen has a national reputation as a clear thinker, a strong speaker and a compassionate, dedicated campaigner. She lives with her wife in Corsham.