Parliamentary boundary review

The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) has announced a review of parliamentary constituencies in England.

The number of parliamentary seats in England is increasing from 533 to 543. The review will decide how to divide these seats between England’s parliamentary constituencies. This means that some constituencies will be redrawn or renamed.

As part of the review, the BCE has launched a secondary public consultation on its initially proposed map of constituencies and is inviting the public to view and comment on the proposals. You can:

• write to them
• email them
• speak at a public hearing in your area

• the number of constituencies in the South West will increase from 55 to 58
• by law, every constituency we propose must contain between 69,724 and 77,062 Parliamentary electors (as of 2 March 2020)
• as far as possible, we try to have regard to local ties, geographical factors, local government boundaries (as they were known on 1 December 2020), existing constituencies, and minimising disruption caused by proposed change
• we use local government wards as the building blocks for proposed constituencies, but will consider splitting a ward where there is a strong case for doing so that helps us better respect the factors above

The Boundary Commission for England is independent and impartial and will not take into account patterns of voting or the results of elections when reviewing constituency boundaries. Political parties’ views on where boundaries should be do not have any more weight than those of members of the public.

Bin collections, schools, services, and council tax in your local area are set by your local authority and this review does not change local authority boundaries. The boundary changes only relate to parliamentary constituencies (the area an MP is elected to represent in Parliament).

Every response received during the first and secondary consultations will be analysed. If our proposals change, we will publish our recommendations and hold a further public consultation. Our final recommendations will be submitted to Parliament by 1 July 2023, and the new constituencies will take effect at the next General Election after that date.

Generally, the more a constituency has changed, the more likely it is that the BCE will recommend a change of name. The Commission welcomes views on the naming of proposed constituencies during the consultation.

You can see a paper copy of the BCE’s proposals in the Library at the Town Hall in Weston-super-Mare.

If you have any questions about the proposals or the review, email information@boundarycommissionengland.gov.uk.