The people of North Swindon have only chosen two MPs in the 22 years since the constituency was created.

And each time they picked a member of a party which would go on to form the government.

When the single constituency of Swindon was split in 1997, the electors at that year’s general election helped see Tony Blair’s New Labour home with a huge majority – electing Michael Wills.

Mr Wills held the seat at the next two elections in 2001 and 2005, but stood down at 2010.

The victor at that year’s election, the Conservatives' Justin Tomlinson, had had a stab at taking the seat in 2005. While he came second he did succeed in cutting Mr Wills majority from 8,000 to just over 2,000.

Like Mr Wills, and indeed like the Conservative MP for the whole of Swindon before him, Simon Coombs, Mr Tomlinson has already successfully held on the seat twice. But the rapidity of general elections these days means he has only been the MP for nine years rather than the 15 you might expect for someone trying to make his third defence.

Much of the expansion of Swindon in the west of the town and the recent developments in Tadpole Garden Village are in the constituency. It mixes heavily populated urban areas north of the railway line through the town centre, and closely packed residential suburbs with large swatches of rurality, particularly in the north east of the constituency. The town of Highworth is part of the patch.

Employment, particularly with the announced closure of the Honda factory in 2021, is of concern.

One of the major issues for residents in Rodbourne, just north of the railway, is traffic. Events at Steam Museum, combined with shoppers at the popular Designer Outlet can cause people in the neighbourhood great difficulty, with jams sometimes lasting for hours.