Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the West Midlands region

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 West Midlands region?

The West Midlands has been allocated 57 constituencies – a reduction of two from the current number.

Our proposals leave nine of the 59 existing constituencies wholly unchanged, and 12 unchanged except to realign constituency boundaries with new local government ward boundaries.

As it has not always been possible to allocate whole numbers of constituencies to individual counties, we have grouped some county council and unitary authority areas into sub‑regions. The number of constituencies allocated to each sub-region is determined by the combined electorate of the authorities they contain.

Consequently, it has been necessary to propose some constituencies that cross county council or unitary authority boundaries, although we have sought to keep such crossings to a minimum.

In Staffordshire and the Black Country, it has been necessary to propose one constituency that crosses the county boundary. We have proposed a constituency that contains electors from both Staffordshire and the Dudley metropolitan borough, which combines the town of Kingswinford, with wards from South Staffordshire district. We have also proposed dividing one ward in the Black Country.

We have proposed two constituencies that include electors from both Staffordshire and the unitary authority of Stoke-on-Trent.

We have proposed one constituency that includes electors from both Shropshire and the unitary authority of Telford and Wrekin.

In Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire, it has been possible to propose a pattern of constituencies that is within the boundaries of each county.

In the sub-region of Birmingham and Solihull, we have proposed one constituency that crosses the boundary between the two councils, extending the Birmingham Hodge Hill constituency to take in the Solihull borough wards of Castle Bromwich and Smith’s Wood. We also propose dividing two wards between constituencies wholly contained within the City of Birmingham.

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.

1 including Telford and Wrekin
2 including Stoke-on-Trent
3 Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and Wolverhampton