New Winchester MP Danny Chambers welcomed by constituents

Mr Chambers won the seat for the Liberal Democrats on Thursday, July 4 in the General Election. The Conservatives had held the seat since 2010.

Mr Chambers won the constituency with 29,939 seats of the votes, beating Tory hopeful Flick Drummond, who got 16,118 votes. His majority of 13,821 is the largest for the Lib Dems in the constituency since Mark Oaten won the seat in the re-election of November 1997 after his famous disputed two-vote victory in May 1997.

In third was Reform UK candidate Sean Whelan, with 4,797 votes.

The Liberal Democrats celebrating Danny Chambers' win at the Winchester Count (Image: Chris Atkinson)

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Speaking to the Hampshire Chronicle in the days following his election, Mr Chambers said: “It’s only just settling in. What was really nice is I went to Meonstoke Village Fair (on Saturday, July 6) and they asked me to judge the dog show, so if anyone is worried that I’m missing working with animals I still got to do that!

“I had such a warm welcome there; people wanting to say hello and say congratulations. I also went to the opening of the Hat Fair on Friday night and that had such a good atmosphere as well. You could see that Winchester felt happy and positive and excited”.

Previously a vet in the Winchester area, Mr Chambers said that he stepped down from his job when the election was called in May so he could campaign full time.

When asked about his priorities as an MP, Mr Chambers said: “There are so many things to focus on. One of my personal passions is improving mental health, especially mental health for young people – I am a trustee of a mental health charity.

“But specific issues, people are worried about NHS services, they are worried about sewage being poured in rivers as well, so those are two specific issues I am working on already.”

Discussing the Labour government’s plan to overhaul the planning system, he added: “Liberal Democrats have always put communities at the heart of planning decisions, and the problem we’ve had until recently – especially under the conservative government – is that developers have been at the heart of planning decisions.

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“We should have the infrastructure built first, it should be the right type of houses in the right type of place that people in that community really want. We also favour building up brown field sites before any green belt and that hasn’t really changed”.

The full results of the general election in Winchester were:

Liberal Democrat, Danny Chambers – 29,939

Conservative, Flick Drummond – 16,118

Reform UK, Sean Whelan – 4,797

Labour, Hannah Dawson – 3,023

Green, Lorraine Estelle – 2,740

Social Democratic Party, Andrew Davis – 146

Independent, Chris Barfoot – 142

Independent, Kevin D’Cruze – 127

Independent, Andy Liming – 44

Turnout: 73.2 per cent