North Devon’s new MP starts on his first day in Parliament and looks ahead to the future

North Devon’s new Liberal Democrat MP has begun his first week in Parliament after overturning nine years of Conservative dominance in the region.

Ian Roome secured 21,820 votes in Thursday’s General Election to displace sitting Conservative MP Selaine Saxby, who polled 15,076 votes.

It reflected the national situation and a bad night for the Conservatives, as Ms Saxby was voted into office in 2019 with a majority of almost 15,000.

The North Devon vote was more divided this time, with Nigel James of Reform UK gaining 8,137 votes, while Nicky Edwards polled 3,216 for Labour, Cas Lay 2,348 for the Green Party and independent Steve Cotton received 820. Turnout was 65.19 per cent, down from the 73.5 per cent turnout of 2019.

Speaking to the North Devon Gazette on his first day at Westminster yesterday (Monday), Ian Roome said he felt honoured that the people of North Devon had put their trust in him to be their representative in Parliament.

He said: “I am elated – it’s going to be a big learning curve, however I am ready to work hard and deliver for North Devon.

“I knew that North Devon was ready for a change but as a candidate you do not know the result until it is declared, so I was campaigning until the polls closed, as I knew that every vote counted.

“I was thrilled by the result, which came about because I had a big team behind me and I would like to thank the many volunteers who gave their time to help me get elected.”

Above: Ian Roome makes his acceptance speech following the North Devon result on General Election night. 

Mr Roome is aged 55 and was born in Sheffield but has lived in Barnstaple for 35 years. His introduction to North Devon came when he served in the Royal Air Force and was stationed at the then RAF Chivenor.

He went on to work as a coach driver, a mental health support worker for the NHS, on the fundraising team at Children’s Hospice South West and until the election was head of fundraising for the Royal Devon Hospitals Charity (formerly Over and Above).

His political career began when he was elected to Barnstaple Town Council in 2003, going on to serve as Barnstaple mayor three times and also gaining election to North Devon Council and Devon County Council. When elected he was also the leader of NDC.

As a new Member of Parliament, the coming week will see him undergo the induction process for the House of Commons and learning the procedures, receiving his new MP’s email and IT set up.

Within the next couple of months he is hoping to secure a suitable location for his constituency office in Barnstaple.

Mr Roome is keen to hit the ground running and is already focused on several local issues – all the things he campaigned on during the election.

He said: “My big issues include under-funding of the NHS both locally and nationally, which also includes the lack of access to NHS dentists.

“Another is the sewage being dumped by water companies in our local waters, our rivers and coasts.

“The ongoing cost of living crisis still needs to be dealt with and housing is a big problem – we should be looking at planning regulations to enable more social rent homes to be built in our region for the people who need them.

“I also want to make the voice of our region heard loudly and to level up the inequality we suffer with school funding and higher education.

“Those are my priorities to begin with and let’s see what we can produce, but going forward it is also about being that good constituency MP who is there for the people of North Devon and getting our legislature working harder on their behalf.”