North West to lose two parliamentary seats under new proposals
The Boundary Commission for England’s published its initial proposals to redraw constituencies to make sure they’re more equally balanced in terms of voter numbers
The proposed new electoral map of England has been published - and it looks like the North West will lose two parliamentary seats if it gets approved.
The Boundary Commission for England’s published its initial proposals to redraw constituencies to make sure they’re more equally balanced in terms of voter numbers.
It would see major changes to the parliamentary map, with England set to gain 10 additional seats at the expense of Wales, which is due to lose eight, and Scotland, which will be down two.
Of the 533 existing English constituencies, fewer than 10% will remain unchanged under the proposals.
By law, the commission is required to draw up seats with 69,724 to 77,062 electors - a condition which it said meant that widespread change was inevitable''.
Cumbria and Lancashire's current allocation is 22 seats which would be dropped to 20 under the proposals.
What's changing in the North West?
Four constituencies which cross county boundaries are being proposed - where this is happening they've grouped some county council and unitary authority areas into sub-regions and the number of constituencies allocated to each of those is determined by the combined electorate of the local authorities they contain.
They're also proposing dividing three wards in the Wirral, Cumbria and Greater Manchester.
A constituency which crosses the border of Lancashire and Merseyside combining the four wards of the District of West Lancashire with the town of Southport.
The Morecambe and Lunesdale constituencies will extend north across the county boundary into the District of South Lakeland.
Two further cross-county boundary constituencies between Cheshire and Merseyside are in the proposals.
The first will use the River Mersey to bisect the Borough of Halton while Widnes and Halewood would extend north into the Borough of Knowsley.
The second crosses the Cheshire West and Chester boundary with the Wirral.
What about elsewhere in the UK?
Among those affected are Sir Keir's Holborn and St Pancras constituency in north London, which the commission is proposing to rename Kentish Town and Bloomsbury to reflect the changes.
The seats of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak will remain largely unchanged under the proposed new electoral map of England.
The commission noted the current electorate is 5% above the limit, and proposed transferring three existing wards to the planned seat of Camden Town and St John's Wood, while taking in an "orphan'' ward from the neighbouring borough Islington.
The commission nevertheless said the seat would still cover the same north-south geographical range as Holborn and St Pancras, retaining nine of its existing wards.
In contrast, the commission said its proposals for Mr Johnson's Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency in west London were "very similar" to the existing boundaries, adding one extra ward.
Mr Sunak's Richmond seat in North Yorkshire is also subject to limited change under the proposals, losing two wards to Thirsk and Malton.
Meanwhile, the Tory MP for Lichfield in Staffordshire, Michael Fabricant, has complained bitterly at the proposals for his constituency, saying they showed no knowledge'' of the area.
"It divides Lichfield Trent Valley station in two and cuts off the eastern edge of Lichfield itself. Frankly, it's a nonsense,'' he said.
"It bears all the hallmarks of boundaries drawn in the 19th and 20th centuries by Whitehall mapmakers in days of empire without any knowledge or care of the regions and people concerned.''
The commission stressed that the proposals, which open for an initial eight-week public consultation period, were provisional.
It is not due to make its final recommendations to Parliament until July 2023.
Commission secretary Tim Bowden 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.
"We want to hear the views of the public to ensure that we get the new boundaries for Parliamentary constituencies right.''
The Boundary Commissions for Scotland and Wales will publish their proposals separately.