Constituency boundary changes

The Boundary Commission is due to publish its draft proposal in the second week of September for the re-drawing of Parliamentary constituencies.  It will reduce the total number of seats to 600 from 650 and base all constituencies on a quota of 76,441 voters plus or minus 5%.  The figures will be based on the 2010 electorate and constituencies will be made up of whole district wards as they are currently designated but, for the first time, County boundaries will not be sacrosanct.  The south west will lose two seats but our psephologists  reckon that as we are in the numerical sweetspot we are unlikely to change dramatically.  Perhaps we shall be extended to include Bere Regis or Wareham.

Change can be unsettling when we have spent years developing an identity and culture within a constituency so we would ask you to keep an eye open for the report on our website, shortly after 13th September, (and the Boundary Commission's site www.independent.gov.uk/boundarycommissionforengland )  so that we can make representations to the party and to the Commission.  The Commission will be holding public hearings in October / November and further drafts and representations will be possible through regular windows before the final report is made in September 2013 for enactment in all elections from December 2013. 

After a number of years when the numbers were loaded against us we will have equal size constituencies and equal representation for all electors.  As well as reducing the cost of parliamentary supervision we believe that the new parameters for constituency boundaries will be more appropriate as communities expand and contract without creating democratic deficits in the regions