Beverley and Holderness Parliamentary constituency to be broken up under proposed boundary changes

THE REVIEW of Parliamentary constituency boundaries starts formally today with the publication of the Boundary Commission for England's (BCE) initial proposals, which sets out to reduce the number of constituencies and equalise the size of each.

If implemented the proposals will introduce substantial changes leading to the break-up of the Beverley and Holderness constituency. It will reduce the number of constituencies in Yorkshire and the Humber from 55 to 50. Major changes proposed, include:

• South West Holderness ward will be included in the East Hull Constituency (see Hedon Blog); 
• the wards of Mid-Holderness, North Holderness and South-East Holderness will be included in a new Bridlington constituency;
• A new Beverley constituency will be formed covering three Beverley wards and the wards of Driffield and Rural, Pocklington Provincial, and Wolds Weighton.

Karl Turner MP for the East Hull constituency had already expressed his discontent at any proposed changes with a page (published prior to today's BCE announcements) on his website stating his opposition:

"The Bill that is being forced through parliament is arbitrary and partisan. It is a cynical ploy designed to protect coalition parties and to hurt the Labour Party. I believe it disenfranchises young people, minority groups and low income voters. In other words, it neglects to count those who need counting the most. The arbitrary nature of the Bill means the redrawing of constituencies takes no account of local authorities or even natural landmarks."

The proposals for Yorkshire and Humber have been reproduced below. Copies are also available from the East Riding Council's Customer Service Centres.

The initial consultation about these proposals closes on 5th December 2011.

Boundary Changes 2011-08-23 Yorkshire-humber Online