Three extra MPs for Anglia region as political landscape of the East of England is re-drawn

SOPA Images/SIPA USA/PA Images
The East of England will elect three additional MPs at the next general election after boundary changes. Credit: SOPA Images/SIPA USA/PA Images

Sweeping boundary changes to most of the parliamentary constituencies in the Anglia region will see three additional MPs sent to Westminster at the next election.

Population movements across the UK mean the political map of the country is being re-drawn to equalise the number of voters in each seat.

The East of England will get three extra Members of Parliament including an additional MP in Cambridgeshire where population growth has been the fastest.

For the first time it proposed that new constituencies will cross county borders as Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire share one extra MP between them with a similar cross-border arrangement in Suffolk and Essex.

Map of proposed constituency boundaries in the ITV Anglia region

Across England, 10 new constituencies will be created with each seat having between nearly 70,000 and 77,000 voters.

Currently the number of voters in existing constituencies in the Anglia region range from the highest in Milton Keynes South with 96,500 down to roughly 59,000 in Northampton North.

Under the new proposals, the constituency in the region with the highest number of voters will be Basildon & Billericay in Essex with nearly an electorate of nearly 77,000 while the two Southend seats nearby will have only around 70,000 voters each.

Some of the planned boundary changes

  • New constituency in Cambridgeshire called St Neots

  • New cross county-border constituency in Suffolk and Essex called Haverhill & Halstead

  • New cross county-border constituency in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire called Hitchin which will also include the Bedfordshire communities of Stotfold, Shefford and Arlesey

  • Rutland will be paired up again with Stamford in Lincolnshire

  • Milton Keynes will once again become a single constituency as parts of the town are carved off to form a Buckingham & Bletchley seat in the south and a Newport Pagnell seat in the north

  • A more compact Lowestoft constituency re-appears for the first time since 1983 as the Waveney seat is divided to create a North Suffolk seat

  • Former health secretary Matt Hancock and his former minister Jo Churchill find the major towns in their two Suffolk constituencies have been combined to form a seat called Bury St Edmunds & Newmarket

Across England 10 new constituencies will be created in time for the next election due by 2024 Credit: PA

The re-drawn political map is the initial set of proposals by the Boundary Commission which will now be consulting the public on its plans.

It is likely there will be further changes before the new boundaries are agreed ready for the next General Election, which has to be held by 2024.

Boundary reviews are usually conducted every decade or to take account of shifting demographics but this one has been delayed twice. The last time the constituencies changed shape was for the 2010 General Election.

The consultation period is open until Tuesday 2 August 2021. You can give your views on the changes on the Boundary Commission website.