Summary
Who we are and what we do
The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) is an independent and impartial non-departmental public body, which is responsible for reviewing Parliamentary constituency boundaries in England.
The 2023 Review
We have the task of periodically reviewing the boundaries of all the Parliamentary constituencies in England. We are currently conducting a review on the basis of legislative rules most recently updated by Parliament in 2020. Those rules tell us that we must make recommendations for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries by 1 July 2023. While retaining the overall number of constituencies across the UK at 650, the rules apply a distribution formula that results in an increase in the number of constituencies in England (from 533 to 543). The rules also require that every recommended constituency across the UK – apart from five specified exceptions (two of them in England) – must have an electorate that is no smaller than 69,724 and no larger than 77,062.
Initial proposals
We published our initial proposals for the new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in England on 8 June 2021. Information about the proposed constituencies is now available on our website at www.boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk.
What is changing in the North East region?
The North East region has been allocated 27 constituencies – a reduction of two from the current number.
Our proposals leave two of the existing 29 constituencies wholly unchanged, and 11 with only minor substantive changes of one to two wards.
As it has not always been possible to allocate whole numbers of constituencies to individual counties, we have grouped some county and unitary authority areas into sub-regions, based on the relatively recently created combined authorities, which encompass the entire North East region. The number of constituencies allocated to each sub-region is determined by the combined electorate of the included authorities.
Consequently, it has been necessary to propose some constituencies that cross county or unitary authority boundaries, but none of our proposed constituencies cross any combined authority boundaries.
| Sub-region | Existing allocation | Proposed allocation |
|---|---|---|
| Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, and Northumberland | 9 | 8 |
| County Durham, South Tyneside and Sunderland | 11* | 10 |
| Gateshead | 2 | 2 |
| Tees Valley | 7 | 7 |
In County Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, and Sunderland it has been necessary to propose four constituencies that cross county boundaries.
We propose one constituency that contains electors from the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the County of Northumberland. We propose one constituency that contains electors from North Tyneside and Northumberland which combines the towns of Cramlington and Whitley Bay in the Whitley Bay and Cramlington constituency.
We also propose two constituencies that contain electors from County Durham and the metropolitan Borough of Sunderland, including Houghton-le-Spring and Hetton-le-Hole in the City of Durham constituency, and the Doxford Park area of Sunderland in the Seaham and Peterlee constituency.
In Gateshead, Hartlepool and Tees Valley it has been possible to propose a pattern of constituencies that is within the boundaries of each combined or local authority.
How to have your say
We are consulting on our initial proposals for an eight-week period, from 8 June 2021 to 2 August 2021. We encourage everyone to use this opportunity to help us shape the new constituencies – the more responses we receive, the more informed our decisions will be when considering whether to revise our proposals. Our consultation portal at www.bcereviews.org.uk has more information about our proposals and how to give us your views on them. You can also follow us on Twitter @BCEReviews or at facebook.com/BCEReviews.
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