England to Gain MPs at Expense of Wales and Scotland as Starmer Takes a Chunk of Corbyn’s Seat

First Sir Keir Starmer took Jeremy Corbyn’s job as leader of the Labour Party, then he suspended him from the party over his reaction to the anti-Semitism inquiry and now he is set to take a chunk out of Corbyn’s constituency.

Under the Boundary Commission of England’s proposals, published on Tuesday 8 June, Starmer’s Holborn and St Pancras constituency would gobble up Tufnell Park ward, which is currently part of Corbyn’s neighbouring Islington North constituency.  

​Islington North would in return get the Dalston ward from Hackney, the constituency of former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott.

The changes are among a raft of pencil marks on the map which would affect who people vote for at the next general election in 2024.

But the bigger picture is that England will get an extra 10 MPs at the expense of Wales, which would lose eight, and Scotland which would lose two.

​The idea is to make the size of each constituency across the United Kingdom roughly the same size - with each having around 70,000 voters.

At the moment the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, has 108,000 voters while Britain’s smallest constituency - Na h-Eileanan an Iar in Scotland - has only 21,000.

​The Boundary Commissions for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to submit their reviews next month.

After getting elected Prime Minister in 2010, David Cameron promised to reduce the number of MPs in total from 650 to 600, a move which was expected to damage Labour’s prospects of winning a majority in future.

​But after Theresa May lost her majority in 2017, that idea was dropped, and Boris Johnson is now pressing ahead on the basis that the 650 seats will be divided as such - England will have 543 (up from 533), Scotland will have 57 (down by two), Wales will get 32 (down by 40) and Northern Ireland will stay on 18.

The Boundary Commission’s proposals involve giving more seats to London and the south-east, where the population has gone up, and slightly less in the North of England and in the East Midlands, where it has gone down.

Tim Bowden, Secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said: “Each constituency we recommend is required by law to contain between 69,724 and 77,062 electors, meaning there will be significant change to current boundaries. We want to hear the views of the public to ensure that we get the new boundaries for Parliamentary constituencies right.”