By far the biggest concern of MPs today – what’s happening to their constituency in the boundary review
Later on today every single MP will get a special letter directed to them alone on what is planned to happen to their seats in the new boundaries that will take effect during 2023. It won’t be till some time later that the full report is issued though we are likely to see a lot of information coming from individual MPs.
This has been a long time in the making because the current boundaries are based on population returns from the 2001 census. What we do know is that the part of the UK that will be the worst hit is Wales which will see its MPs total reduced from 40 to 32.
The biggest gainer will be SE England which will see its seat total up 7 to 91 MPs. East England and the SW see an extra three seats each, London 2 and the East Midlands 1.
The NE, home of Hartlepool the most recent Tory success, sees a decline from 29 to 27 seats. The West Midlands and Scotland are each down 2 seats.
The aim has been to try to create equal-sized seats across the UK although there is special protection for the Isle of Wight and Anglesey.
Expect a lot of number crunching over the next 24 hours or so and we will get an idea of what would have happened at GE2019 if the new boundaries had been in place.
The Tory red wall from GE2019 might impact on some of the gains that were made last time.