Wiggin was selected as the official Conservative Party candidate for Burnley at the 1997 general election. He finished in second place behind Peter Pike of the Labour Party, who defeated him with a majority of 17,062 votes. He was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for the Conservative safe seat of Leominster in April 1999, replacing Peter Temple-Morris, who had defected to the Labour Party. He was elected in 2001 with a majority of 10,367 votes over his Liberal Democrat opponent.