GENERAL ELECTION 2015: Conservative Peter Bone says ‘listening to the people of Wellingborough and Rushden’ was reason for campaign success

Conservative Peter Bone has held on to his seat and will represent Wellingborough and Rushden in Parliament for another term.
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The new MP for Wellingborough and Rushden has thanked his team for their support in retaining his seat.

Peter Bone, who ran away with the constituency with 26,265 votes, beating his nearest rival by more than 15,000 votes, admitted he was tired when the result finally came in at 4.30am.

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But said he was delighted with the result and thanked every member of the team that had helped with the campaign.

Speaking after the result, Mr Bone said: “I am delighted, but I am very tired.

“The team have worked so hard.

“The Listening to Wellingborough and Rushden campaign has worked well.”

He said that it showed that they listened to people’s views and they listen to what matters to people locally. Members of the team he thanked publicly included Dorothy Maxwell, David Jenney and Gill Mercer.

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After admitting that the first thing he was going to do after the election was go to bed, he said he would then start on the issues that matter to people in Wellingborough and Rushden, including creating jobs in the constituency.

Mr Bone was congratulated by his opponents, including Richard Garvie who shook his hand before leaving the Redwell Leisure Centre where the count took place.

The results for the seat were as follows:

Peter Bone (Conservative): 26,265

Richard Garvie: 9,839

Dr Jonathan Munday (UKIP): 9,868

Chris Nelson (Liberal Democrats): 2,240

Marion Turner-Hawes (Green Party): 2,218

Turnout was 69 percent.

Peter Bone has been the Wellingborough MP since the 2005 General Election, holding on to his seat five years ago with a majority of 11,787.

His opponents this time round were Richard Garvie who was originally standing for Labour but was suspended, Chris Nelson for the Liberal Democrats, Dr Jonathan Munday for UKIP and Marion Turner-Hawes for the Green Party.

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Despite having a respectable majority of 11,787 last time,.

The campaign trail also saw the Labour candidate Richard Garvie convicted of fraud just seven days ahead of the polls.

Garvie, 30, of Rowlett Road, Corby, was found guilty of fraud after buying train tickets worth £890 using a card for a closed bank account at Wellingborough Magistrates Court last Thursday.

He denied the charges but was found guilty and will be sentenced later this year. He was suspended by the Labour Party after his conviction.

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In a statement released by Garvie afterwards, he said he still hoped to win the seat for Labour but pledged to resign if elected.

The Wellingborough constituency is 76,848 and turn-out in the 2010 General Election for Wellingborough was 67.2 per cent.