Cumbria could lose an MP following boundary proposals

Sue Hayman and Jamie Reed could be pitted against each other if their constituencies are merged Credit: ITV Border

Cumbria will lose one of its MPs if proposals, announced by the Boundary Commission today, come into force.

Across the country the number of MPs would be reduced from 650 to 600 and the Commission is trying to ensure that each constituency has roughly the same number of potential voters.

  • So how will this affect us here?

Currently there are six parliamentary constituencies in Cumbria - Carlisle, Penrith and the Border, Workington, Copeland, Westmorland and Lonsdale and Barrow and Furness.

However, under the new proposals that will go down to five.

  • What will the new constituencies look like?

  • Carlisle, which will be enlarged to the east

  • Penrith and Solway, which will take in Keswick and the Solway Coast

  • A new seat of Workington and Whitehaven will merge the two west Cumbrian constituencies into one

  • Westmorland and Lonsdale will now include the town of Appleby

  • Barrow and Furness will expand to the north to include some of Copeland

West Cumbria would see the biggest change with only one of the two current MPs, Jamie Reed and Sue Hayman, able to continue in Parliament.

  • What factors are taken into account?

When assessing the proposed boundary changes, the boundary commission takes the following into account:

  • The number of constituencies in the North West must reduce from 75 to 68

  • By law, every constituency they propose must contain between 71,031 and 78,507 electors

  • They largely use local government wards as the building blocks for proposed constituencies

  • They try to retain existing constituencies where possible

  • They try to have regard to geographic factors

George Osborne's Tatton constituency is one of 50 to be abolished under new proposals published by the Boundary Commission for England.

eremy Corbyn said he was 'very unhappy' about the proposed boundary changes. Credit: PA

The shakeup will affect six other seats in the North West and several other MPs' seats, including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's Islington North constituency, Owen Smith (Pontypridd) and Boris Johnson (Uxbridge and South Ruislip)

Other plans include:

  • Number of MPs in the House of Commons to be reduced from 650 to 600

  • This reduction would save taxpayers £66 million over five years

  • MPs in England to be cut from 533 to 501, in Scotland from 59 to 53

  • MPs in Wales to be cut from 40 to 29, in Northern Ireland from 18 to 17

To find out how your constituency will be affected, visit the Boundary Commission for England's website.