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Will Stone
British politician From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Will Stone is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Swindon North since 2024.[1]
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Early life
Will Stone was born in Swindon and was an Army rifleman in the 1st Battalion, The Rifles.[2][3]
Political career
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Stone was elected as a councillor on Swindon Borough Council for the ward of Rodbourne Cheney in 2022.[4] As a councillor, Stone called for more support for veterans.[5]
He won the Swindon North seat for Labour at the 2024 general election, defeating the Conservative incumbent Justin Tomlinson by a margin of 4,103 votes (9.3%).[1]
In February 2025, Stone introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill to amend the Road Traffic Act 1988, making death caused by an unlicensed driver a careless driving offence under section 3.[6][7] Stone was motivated to introduce the bill in response to the death of 14-year-old teenager from Swindon, who was killed by an unlicensed driver in 2022.[8][9] After this did not progress past it's 2nd Reading due to debate time being used on the Terminally Ill (Adults) End of Life Bill, Stone put forward two amendments to the Police and Crime Bill which would (1) make the maximum penalty for a driver convicted of driving without a licence who has never held one six months in prison or an unlimited fine or both. (2) make it possible to send someone who does not stop after an accident to prison for up to a year or to give them an unlimited fine.[10]
He has campaigned for local health service improvement, securing over £400k for repairs at Swindon's Great Western Hospital [11] and £508,090 for Prospect Hospice. [12][13]
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Forming a Drone Cluster
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In early 2025, Stone was appointed as a 'business champion' of defence and green technology by the Labour Party.[14] In this role Mr Stone has noted that one of his missions for Swindon North is to return the town to a place of high quality employment. To do this mr Stone is leading efforts to utilise the Panattoni site for manufacturing in sectors like Defence and Drone production,[15] in line with the Governments increase to defence spending of 2.5% from April 2027 and foster economic growth in Swindon.[16] Overarching reasons for this move are to utilise the extra investment in defence whilst also supporting the UK's wider mission of scaling up defence capability. Many of the drone manufacturers engaged in discussions have learned from/been involved in the defence of Ukraine and note their desire to support the UK and Ukraine's defence infrastructure[17].
The first investment in Swindon drone production was announced on the 17th July with the German Defence company STARK setting up a 40,000 square foot factory in Swindon, outlining an initial 100 High Skilled jobs in the town and marking the companies first expansion outside of Germany[18].
Beyond STARK, Will Stone has been engaging with small businesses involved in the drone industry. He notes meeting with multiple defence and drone companies through his social media and on the 22nd August welcomed anti-drone personal defence SME Munin Dynamics to the town, noting "Having another defence company set up in Swindon highlights that we are transitioning into becoming a drone manufacturing hub supporting the nation's security"[19].
Personal life
Stone is a black belt in both Judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.[20][21]
References
External links
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