Three more East Anglian MPs in radical shake-up of political map of the East of England

A face of the Elizabeth Tower, also known as Big Ben, the clock at Palace of Westminster is pictured during a the ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II into Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday. Picture date: Wednesday September 14, 2022.
As the population grows in the East of England there will be three extra MPs from the area at the next General Election Credit: PA

Widespread boundary changes to most of the parliamentary constituencies in the ITV Anglia region will see three additional MPs sent to Westminster at the next election, which will probably be held in the spring or autumn of 2024

Population movements across the UK mean the political map of the country has been re-drawn in an attempt 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 in parliamentary history, two of new constituencies will cross county borders as Suffolk and Norfolk share one extra MP between them with a similar cross-border arrangement in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire.

A new seat has been created in the Waveney Valley taking in the Norfolk towns of Diss and Harleston along with the Suffolk communities of Halesworth, Bungay and Eye. The existing constituency of Waveney will be made smaller and re-named Lowestoft.

There had been earlier plans to create a constituency called Haverhill & Halsted which crossed the Suffolk-Essex boundary but it was scrapped after local objections.

There has been an MP for Saffron Walden in Essex since 1885 but that name will disappear from the next House of Commons to be replaced by an honourable member from North West Essex.

The city of Ely in Cambridgeshire gets its name back in a constituency for the first time since the Isle of Ely seat was abolished in 1983.

Map of proposed constituency boundaries in the ITV Anglia region

Use the map to discover the changes in your local constituency by moving your cursor over the screen

Across England, 10 new constituencies will be created with each seat having between 69,724 and 77,062 voters.

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

Under the new boundaries, 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 proposed South Norfolk seat will have just under 70,000 voters.

Some of the boundary changes

  • New constituency in Cambridgeshire called St Neots & Mid Cambridgeshire

  • New cross county-border constituency in Suffolk and Norfolk called Waveney Valley

  • 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

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

Unlike many other parts of the country, no MPs in the Anglia region have seen their seats disappears as boundary lines are re-drawn. However a number of current Conservative MPs in East Anglia have already announced they will to stand down at the next election.

They include Sir Mike Penning in Hemel Hempstead, Chloe Smith in Norwich North, Steven McPartland in Stevenage, Richard Bacon in South Norfolk and Will Quince in Colchester. The former health secretary Matt Hancock, who has lost the Conservative whip, has also decided to not stand at the next election in West Suffolk.

The MP for Mid Bedfordshire, Nadine Dorries, said she was quitting the House of Commons "with immediate effect" on 9 June but has still not officially resigned. If there is a by-election in Mid Bedfordshire it will be held using the existing constituency boundaries.

Across England 10 new constituencies will be created in time for the next election due before January 2025 Credit: PA

Parliamentary seats are usually re-shaped every 10-15 years to take account of population changes but this boundary review is long overdue having been scrapped on two previous occasions.

The final plans now need to be rubber-stamped by parliament so they can be in place before the next General Election which must be held before January 2025.

There were some final tweaks to some constituency names when the final Boundary Commission report was released:

  • Bury St Edmunds becomes Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket

  • Saffron Walden becomes North West Essex

  • South East Cambridgeshire becomes Ely and East Cambridgeshire

  • Southend West becomes Southend West & Leigh

  • Wellingborough becomes Wellingborough and Rushden

Map of the existing parliamentary constituencies in the ITV Anglia region and the 2019 General Election results


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