2023 Review

Our third and final consultation stage took place from 8 November to 5 December 2022, seeking views on our revised proposals for new constituencies in England. Public consultation is now closed, and we cannot consider any further responses submitted to us, but you can still view an interactive map of the proposals at bcereviews.org.uk.

If you wish to read our revised proposals report, view pdf maps of proposed constituencies, and download geospatial data files, simply click on the link below for the English region you are interested in:

• East Midlands
• Eastern
• London
• North East
• North West
• South East
• South West
• West Midlands
• Yorkshire and the Humber

England-wide data downloads:

• Spreadsheet of ward and polling district electorate data used for the 2023 Review;
• Spreadsheet of electorate breakdown for revised proposed constituencies;
• Spreadsheet of each revised proposed constituency with its region and sub-region;
• SHP geospatial data;
• GPKG geospatial data.

PDF background mapping and geospatial data © Crown copyright and database rights 2022 OS 100018289. Use of this data is subject to terms and conditions.

You can still view our initial proposals for new constituencies in England, on the interactive map at bcereviews.org.uk. Our subsequent revised proposals above are the result of analysis and consideration of the comments received on the initial proposals during two consultation periods: 8 June – 2 August 2021; and 22 February – 4 April 2022 (the latter including 32 public hearings across England).

If you wish to read our initial proposals report, view pdf maps of initially proposed constituencies, and download geospatial data files, these all remain available via the same regional weblinks listed in the revised proposals section above: simply click on the link for the English region you are interested in. England-wide data downloads also remain available at:

• Spreadsheet of electorate breakdown for initial proposed constituencies;
• Spreadsheet of each initial proposed constituency with its region and sub-region;
• SHP geospatial data;
• GPKG geospatial data.

Following the passing of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 in December 2020, and the publication of the relevant Parliamentary electorate data in January 2021, we began a new review of all Parliamentary constituencies in England. We refer to this as the ‘2023 Review’, as we are required to report with our final recommendations by 1 July 2023.

Applying the statutory formula to the electorate figures means the total 650 constituencies is distributed during the review to the four parts of the UK as follows:

• England = 543 (includes two ‘protected’ constituencies on the Isle of Wight);
• Scotland = 57 (includes two ‘protected’ constituencies for specified Scottish islands);
• Wales = 32 (includes one ‘protected’ constituency on the Isle of Anglesey); and
• Northern Ireland = 18

This Commission has applied the same distribution formula to the English allocation, which results in the following redistribution of constituencies among the nine English regions for the 2023 Review:

• East Midlands = 47 (increase of one)
• Eastern = 61 (increase of three)
• London = 75 (increase of two)
• North East = 27 (decrease of two)
• North West = 73 (decrease of two)
• South East = 91 (increase of seven)
• South West = 58 (increase of three)
• West Midlands = 57 (decrease of two)
• Yorkshire and the Humber = 54 (no change)

Application of further statutory rules to the published electorate also means that all recommended constituencies must have no less than 69,724 Parliamentary electors and no more than 77,062 (except those ‘protected’ constituencies mentioned above). By law, these electorate figures relate to the electorates as they were on 2 March 2020.

What happens next?

The final consultation on our revised proposals for new constituencies took place from 8 November to 5 December 2022. The Commission is now analysing all the responses received during this last consultation stage, and will decide whether to make any changes to the revised proposals. We will then provide our final report and recommendations to Parliament by 1 July 2023. 

This concludes our involvement in the 2023 Boundary Review. After we provide our report, it will then be for the Government to prepare an order to implement the new constituencies for the whole UK. This should be provided to the Privy Council for approval within four months of the Government receiving the last report of the four Parliamentary Boundary Commissions for the UK. The new constituencies will then take effect at the next general election thereafter.

Are you using the ward-level data published by ONS in January 2021?

Mostly. The ONS publication reflects wards as they were at the time of the data collection, but December 2020 legislation introduced the concept of our work having regard to ‘prospective’ local government boundaries, i.e. wards that have been ‘made’ by legal instrument, but not yet implemented at a subsequent local election. Nearly 10% of local authorities in England (mostly in London) have such ‘prospective’ ward boundaries, specifically:  1) Barnet; 2) Basingstoke and Deane; 3) Brent; 4) Buckinghamshire; 5) Cambridge; 6) Camden; 7) Chorley; 8) Cornwall; 9) Ealing; 10) Enfield; 11) Halton; 12) Hammersmith and Fulham; 13) Haringey; 14) Harrow; 15) Hartlepool; 16) Hillingdon; 17) Hounslow; 18) Isle of Wight; 19) Islington; 20) Lewisham; 21) Merton; 22) North Northamptonshire; 23) Oxford; 24) Pendle; 25) Richmond upon Thames; 26) Rotherham; 27) Salford; 28) Sutton; 29) West Northamptonshire; 30) Westminster; 31) Wiltshire.

We have worked with the Electoral Registration Officers for all these local authorities, to recast the ONS data according to the prospective wards, and you can download the complete ward-level dataset for the review from the 2023 Review section of our Data and Resources page.

What will be your process and policies for the 2023 Review?

Our planned timetable is as follows:

• 5 Jan 2021: Publication of headline electorate figures by ONS, BCE begin development of initial proposals;
• 24 March 2021: Publish complete ward-level electorate figures (i.e. including ‘prospective’ wards);
• 10 May 2021: Publish ‘Guide to the 2023 Review’;
• 8 June 2021: Publish initial proposals and conduct eight-week written consultation;
• 22 February 2022: Publish responses to initial proposals and conduct six-week ‘secondary consultation’, including between two and five public hearings in each region;
• 8 November 2022: Publish revised proposals and conduct four-week written consultation;
• June 2023: Submit and publish final report and recommendations.

You can read more about the process, law and policies we work to in the review in our Guide to the 2023 Review.

We have created a partner pack, which includes our press release, blog, copy and graphics for your website or social media channels, an FAQ and more to help you publicise the 2023 Boundary Review. Download our partner pack here.

All information about this review will be published via this section of our website, with key updates and notifications also issued via our Twitter account @BCEReviews.