Living on the Edge

Proposals to change the boundaries for parliamentary constituencies were made in 2013. They were not acted on.

The rationale for changing the boundaries is to have roughly similar numbers of voters in each constituency; somewhere between 69,000 and 77,000 with the Western Isles (officially Na h-Eileanan an Iar, and I cannot pronounce it either) and the Isle of Wight as exceptions. The former has 21,000 voters, the latter 113,000.

A significant change is proposed for Hammersmith, my constituency. This is the status quo.

At the moment I live at the south end of the constituency that stretches north through Shepherd’s Bush into Acton. It has only looked like this since 2010 and since then the Labour candidate, Andy Slaughter, although he is anti blood sports, has won every election. There are enough Labour voters in Acton to make his seat safe. The boundary changes published this week change this.

Instead of going north into Acton the constituency boundary moves west into Conservative Chiswick. The south boundary also moves a little to the north so that I am living on the border, just in Hammersmith and Chiswick, but Margravine Cemetery, Charing Cross Hospital and The River Café are in Fulham and Chelsea. The old Hammersmith constituency has an electorate of 74,759, the proposed Hammersmith and Chiswick constituency an almost identical 74,746 voters. So the change is to adjust the electorates in neighbouring constituencies. However, if implemented, I am likely to have a Conservative Member of Parliament again. The change may come into force in 2023, possibly in time for the next General Election but be assured there will be a big rumpus.

An interesting aspect of the changes nationwide is that the 2013 proposals were expected to give the Conservatives twenty seats. But in 2019 the Conservatives made big gains up north and there will be fewer of these constituencies and more in urban clusters like London, where Labour has been doing well.