Cambridgeshire to get extra constituency under boundary shakeup
The county could see an eighth constituency introduced.
Last updated 8th Jun 2021
Proposals for an additional parliamentary constituency in Cambridgeshire have been revealed as part of a national review.
The Boundary Commission for England published “initial proposals” on Tuesday (June 8) as part of its 2023 review to rebalance the constituencies based on population size.
The proposals for Cambridgeshire would see an increase from seven to eight, with a new constituency called “St Neots” in the west of the county.
The independent commission said that in Cambridgeshire it has been possible to propose a pattern of constituencies that are wholly contained within the county boundary.
The number of constituencies in the east of England would rise from 58 to 61.
The names of all but one of the existing seven Cambridgeshire constituencies would remain the same, but their boundaries would change as a result. South East Cambridgeshire would become East Cambridgeshire, as part of a boundary change that would see its southern tip passed to South Cambridgeshire.
The South Cambridgeshire constituency would retain its name, but would not extend as far north in the west of the county and would spread east in the south of the county.
The new St Neots constituency would include St Neots, Longstowe, Cambourne, Girton, Willingham, Elsworth, Swavesey. and other areas.
The 2023 review of parliamentary constituencies was launched in January this year.
Publication of the proposals on Tuesday is the first opportunity to see what the map of new constituencies might look like, and marks the start of the first of three rounds of consultation.
The Boundary Commission will present final recommendations to Parliament by July 2023.
The number of constituencies across the United Kingdom will stay the same, at 650, but the Boundary Commission said it is required to ensure that the number of electors in each constituency is more equal.
The proposals are for the number of constituencies in England to increase from 533 to 543.
“The rules that the commission work to are such that wide scale change is inevitable”, the Boundary Commission said. “Under the proposals announced today just under 10 per cent of the existing 533 English constituencies remain unchanged.”
Tim Bowden, Secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said: “Today’s proposals mark the first time people get to see what the new map of parliamentary constituencies might look like.
“But they are just the commission’s initial thoughts. Help us draw the line to make the number of electors in each parliamentary constituency more equal.
“Each constituency we recommend is required by law to contain between 69,724 and 77,062 electors, meaning there will be significant change to current boundaries.
“We want to hear the views of the public to ensure that we get the new boundaries for parliamentary constituencies right.”
The proposals can be seen and commented on at www.bcereviews.org.uk. The public consultation closes on August 2, 2021. People can comment on anything from where the proposed new boundary lines are to the names of the constituencies.
There will be a further two rounds of consultation in 2022.
The commission said an act of parliament requires it to base this review on electorate data from March 2, 2020.