On Wednesday 28th June 2023, the independent Boundary Commission for England, alongside their counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, laid their final boundary change proposals with the Speaker of the House of Commons.On the 28th June the report was laid in Parliament.They published the recommendations on their website.
Following the laying of the report in Parliament, the Government must now prepare the Order to give effect to our recommendations which has to be done before 28th October 2023. Any General Election held after that date will be held on the new boundaries. Any by-elections would be held on existing boundaries. Parliament has no say in the process, which will now happen automatically every 8 years.
The initial proposals kept our communities broadly together as they are now with an enlarged Copeland constituency, an enlarged Penrith and The Border constituency, and an enlarged Workington constituency. We and our MPs supported those proposals in writing and at the public hearing, apart from a name change request following representations from constituents in the proposed Workington constituency.
The Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats asked the Boundary Commission to dissect our communities, in an attempt to gerrymander the outcome. Unfortunately they were successful in ripping our communities apart at the second proposals, and asked for further changes at the final stage, some of which were also accepted.
The final map for the Whitehaven and Workington constituency can be downloaded below, along with a copy of the final report.
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