please empty your brain below
There was also a review in 1955, when Bethnal Green constituency gained parts of Hackney (and lost them again in 1974). For a complete hisory of constituencies in Tower Hamlets and Newham since 1885 see parlconst.org/london/2-tower-hamlets-and-newham

Nigel | Homepage | 09.06.21 - 7:40 a.m. | #

That's a fabulous resource, thanks (and precisely what I spent far too long trying to work out yesterday).

diamond geezer | Homepage | 09.06.21 - 7:43 a.m. | #

Surgery work may cause difficulties for an MP whose constituency covers more than one local authority area. She may be asked to help with an issue which adjacent councils deal with differently and on which constituents take different views. Can she help both sides? It could get awkward where, as here in Kent, a new constituency straddles three local authorities.

David Cook | 09.06.21 - 7:49 a.m. | #

Romford MP, Andrew Rosindell, has declared an aim to take Havering out of London (doesn't like Mayor Khan), but hasn't told us of the implications, which sounds familiar. He appears to need more work so he's welcome to Emerson Park.

Running_Correspondent | 09.06.21 - 7:58 a.m. | #

I recall a merger of boundaries between Stratford new town and Bow previously proposed but didn’t happen.

They are disparate areas, not helped by the physical separation caused by the horrible A12 and bow flyover. I suspect the more affluent residents of Bow will kick up plenty of fuss, snubbing the residents of E15.

Pml | 09.06.21 - 8:10 a.m. | #

I live in an area where two boroughs share three MPs, my own MP's constituency straddling parts of both boroughs. It seems to work, whether (as now) both boroughs and all three MPs are the same political colour or, as has been the case recently, one or both boroughs was run by a different party to that of the MP.

timbo | 09.06.21 - 8:14 a.m. | #

Cameron only had the brexit referendum because he won a surprise overall majority, and because it was in the manifesto, he regarded it as a commitment.

Ian | 09.06.21 - 9:02 a.m. | #

Have the criteria for drawing the boundaries changed over time? 5% vs 10%? Electorate vs population?

dg writes: There’s never been a % limit before.

Frankie Roberto | 09.06.21 - 9:49 a.m. | #

Thanks DG for the link to local data.
My new constituency bears no relation to to the existing and has some bizarre details but possible no more so than before. Some things are apparent:
Local Authority boundaries, including counties, are ignored. Places near the boundary really suffer, being sliced apart, seperated from their nearest significant neighbours, sometimes having no physical connection with the area, and nothing at all in common with other parts.

kev | 09.06.21 - 10:03 a.m. | #

"mathematics is now king, not administrative cohesion"

Good point !

And needs to be borne in mind when you hear a Conservative MP complaining about the review: “It bears all the hallmarks of boundaries drawn in the 19th and 20th centuries by Whitehall mapmakers in days of empire without any knowledge or care of the regions and people concerned.”

ADS | Homepage | 09.06.21 - 10:06 a.m. | #

This really is little more than good old-fashioned gerrymandering. If the government were really interested in making elections fairer they would have to scrap the first past post the system and if they did that they might never win another election.

cjw714 | 09.06.21 - 10:08 a.m. | #

A definition of gerrymandering may help at this point.

Messiah | 09.06.21 - 10:34 a.m. | #

My constituency was already stretched across the borough boundary. Now it’s going to be stretched across a different borough boundary instead!

Paul Ingerson | 09.06.21 - 10:39 a.m. | #

I think a simple charge of gerrymandering is unfair, we are due a rejig of the map overall, and it's hard to claim that balancing constituency electorates is undemocratic. Even if there are valid reasons to say total population might be your preferred balancing metric. The maps themselves are then drawn by an independent body.

Compare with some of the US congressional districts, Maryland's 3rd is a notorious example.

TomH | 09.06.21 - 11:16 a.m. | #

I see they've finally split the Isle of Wight, it would have been 52% oversized and is instead 22% (East) and 25% (West) below-par.

TomH | 09.06.21 - 11:26 a.m. | #

"It's also a political decision to base constituency sizes on the electorate rather than overall population, which disadvantages areas with more than the average number of children."

It also disadvantages areas where the numbers of people not on the Electoral Register (for whatever reason) is higher. Also disadvantaged are as areas with higher numbers of citizens not entitled to vote in parliamentary elections (e.g. citizens from other EU countries who can only vote in local elections, unlike citizens from Commonwealth countries who can vote in parliamentary elections)

Malc | 09.06.21 - 12:50 p.m. | #

Electoral Calculus has published an estimate of the 2019 results had the General Election been fought using these new boundaries:

   CON 380 (+15)
   LAB 194 (−9)
   LIB 6 (−5)
   GRN 0 (−1)
   SNP 49 (+1)
   PlaidC 3 (−1)

That's a Conservative majority of 110 rather than 80.

That's a significant leap, and even further away from the result proportional representation would have delivered.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 09.06.21 - 1:48 p.m. | #

Lumping parts of Hampstead with Harlesden may be the biggest controversy in London.

Shirley | 09.06.21 - 2:00 p.m. | #

Great summary!
Far from being ignored, islands are being given specific (hard-won) consideration in this round of changes.

cau1khead | 09.06.21 - 2:05 p.m. | #

There is no such thing as perpetual rule in sufficiently democratic countries. Even Netanyahu is going.

Patrickov | 09.06.21 - 2:53 p.m. | #

Fascinating stuff. Administrative heritage in the making.

Sarah | Homepage | 09.06.21 - 2:59 p.m. | #

I fail to see the sense of all these changes. Children grow up, people change their jobs, people move house and companies relocate. The population is not static therefore anything based on constituency size will ultimately fail and change again in The future.

Tones | 09.06.21 - 3:34 p.m. | #

And none of it would really matter if you had a local vote and a national vote (aka MMP). We'll get it one day.

MK | 09.06.21 - 6:05 p.m. | #

Tones - this is only the sixth change in over 100 years (the 1950 reform was the first since 1918). Population distribution has changed dramatically in that period - entire new towns have sprung up like Telford and Milton Keynes, whilst central London's population is far less than it was 100 years ago. Other reforms will have changed the relative numbers of voters in different constituencies - the reduction of voting age from 21 to 18 in 1970 will have added a lot more voters in university cities. 100 years ago women didn't have the vote.

Of course these boundary changes will always lag behind such demographic changes, but it's better than still having the same boundaries as in Lloyd George's time.

timbo | 09.06.21 - 9:27 p.m. | #

This means an average constituency size of 73,392, and the 5% range means electorates must now lie between 69,724 and 77,062. The stupid thing is the mass building that is on going will mean that the QEOP population will become even larger, there's plans for developments in the south of Newham by the docks and even Tower Hamlets has new homes underway in the Isle of Dogs area so this means all change again at the next review.

Andrew Jarman | 09.06.21 - 9:29 p.m. | #

That's the whole point of a review.

scrumpy | 09.06.21 - 10:45 p.m. | #

I well remember the horror of genteel Telscombe Cliffs and East Saltdean at being 'becoming part of Brighton' in the early 1990s parliamentary boundary changes. Some of them still probably haven't got over it.

Sarah | Homepage | 10.06.21 - 9:04 a.m. | #

All parties agreed to these in the past and if Labour hadn't have lost the North to the SNP they wouldn't be so worried now.

Of course all parties need to work harder, have better candidates and better policies and more engagement to get more votes than whoever is currently holding that seat. Engaging with the large % who don't even bother voting might be useful!

Martin | 17.06.21 - 7:33 p.m. | #











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