Fourth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies explained

The Fourth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies was undertaken in the United Kingdom between 1991 and 1995 by the four Boundary Commissions.^[1] As well as changes to constituency boundaries, the Reviews recommended an increase of five seats in England (524 to 529), two in Wales (38 to 40) and one in Northern Ireland (17 to 18), with Scotland continuing to have 72 seats. The number of MPs in the House of Commons therefore increased from 651 to 659.^[2] 144 new constituencies were created, offset by 136 which were abolished. The new boundaries were first used for the 1997 general election.

Review process

Under the terms of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, as enacted, the Boundary Commissions were required to present their final recommendations between 10 and 15 years after the submission of their previous reports.^[3] As the final reports for the Third Periodic Review had been submitted between October 1982 and February 1983, the final reports for the Fourth Review were due to be submitted no later than February 1998. Accordingly, the English Commission had commenced their review in February 1991 and the Scottish Commission had commenced theirs in February 1992. In the meantime, reflecting concerns that the period between reviews was too long, the Government proposed that the gap between reviews should be reduced to between 8 and 12 years and that the deadline for the Fourth Review should be brought forward to 31 December 1994. This was legislated through the Boundary Commissions Act 1992.^[4]

The final reports were submitted as follows:

Scotland - 15 December 1994^[5]
Wales - 16 December 1994^[6]
England - 12 April 1995^[7]
Northern Ireland - 20 June 1995^[8]

Changes

As a result of changes to the names of seats, it is not always easy to clearly identify newly created constituencies or those abolished during the review process. One way of considering this is to link each proposed seat with an existing seat which contributes the most voters to that new seat. Any proposed seat which cannot be linked to an existing seat is then considered to be a "new" constituency. Conversely, any existing seat which is not linked to a proposed seat is considered to have been abolished.

The tables below list the names of existing seats which were not replicated in the final proposals for the fourth review ("old seats"), and links them with proposed seats which did not exist prior to the review ("new seats"). Those seats which are not linked can be regarded as being genuinely abolished or newly created. There are a number of instances where existing seats are effectively abolished and re-created under the same name, as set out in the notes.

England

The number of seats in England increased by five. 19 non-metropolitan counties gained one seat each, with Hampshire gaining two. This was offset by a reduction of ten seats in Greater London, two each in Greater Manchester and West Midlands, and one each in Lancashire and Merseyside.

In Greater London, the Commission, for the first time, decided to pair some London Boroughs together to reduce the variation in the size of electorates. These are detailed in the table below.

County	No. of seats		Old seat	New seat	Notes
County	Before	After	Old seat	New seat	Notes
Avon	10	10
Bedfordshire	5	6	Bedfordshire North	Bedford
Bedfordshire	5	6		Bedfordshire North East	Comprised the largest part of the existing Bedfordshire Mid seat, which was reconfigured and effectively formed a new constituency.
Berkshire	7	8	Berkshire East	Bracknell
			Windsor and Maidenhead	Maidenhead
				Windsor
Buckinghamshire	7	7
Cambridgeshire	6	7		Cambridgeshire North East
Cambridgeshire	6	7	Cambridgeshire South West	Cambridgeshire South
Cheshire	10	11		Weaver Vale
Cleveland	6	6	Langbaurgh	Middlesbrough South and Cleveland East
Cornwall	5	5	Truro	Truro and St Austell	Name change only.
Cumbria	6	6
Derbyshire	10	10
Devon	11	11	Honiton	Devon East
			Plymouth Drake		Plymouth, Drake was absorbed into Plymouth Sutton, with the bulk of that seat now forming the majority of the new seat of Devon South West.
				Devon South West
			South Hams	Totnes
			Tiverton	Tiverton and Honiton
Dorset	7	8		Dorset Mid and Poole North
Durham	7	7
East Sussex	8	8
Essex	16	17		Essex North	Major reconfiguration.
			Colchester North	Colchester
			Colchester South and Maldon	Maldon and Chelmsford East
			Chelmsford	Chelmsford West
			Rochford	Rayleigh
			Southend East	Rochford and Southend East
Gloucestershire	5	6	Cirencester and Tewksbury	Cotswold
				Tewkesbury
			Gloucestershire West	Forest of Dean
Greater London	84	74	Hendon North	Hendon	London borough of Barnet
			Hendon South
			Finchley	Finchley and Golders Green
			Greenwich	Greenwich and Woolwich	London boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich
			Woolwich
			Erith and Crayford	Erith and Thamesmead
			Bexleyheath	Bexleyheath and Crayford
			Chislehurst	Bromley and Chislehurst	London borough of Bromley
			Ravensbourne		London borough of Bromley
			Croydon North East		London borough of Croydon
			Croydon North West	Croydon North	London borough of Croydon
			Ealing Acton	Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush	London boroughs of Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham
			Hammersmith
			Fulham	Hammersmith and Fulham
			City of London and Westminster South	Cities of London and Westminster	Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Cities of London and Westminster
			Westminster North	Regent's Park and Kensington North
			Kensington
			Chelsea	Kensington and Chelsea
			Richmond and Barnes	Richmond Park	Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and borough of Richmond upon Thames
			Kingston upon Thames
			Surbiton	Kingston and Surbiton
			Southwark and Bermondsey	North Southwark and Bermondsey	London boroughs of Lambeth and Southwark
			Peckham	Camberwell and Peckham
			Dulwich	Dulwich and West Norwood
			Norwood
			Bethnal Green and Stepney	Bethnal Green and Bow	London boroughs of Newham and Tower Hamlets
			Bow and Poplar	Poplar and Canning Town
			Newham South
			Newham North East	East Ham
			Newham North West	West Ham
			Chingford	Chingford and Woodford Green	London boroughs of Redbridge and Waltham Forest
			Wanstead and Woodford
			Leyton	Leyton and Wanstead
Greater Manchester	30	28	Stretford
			Davyhulme	Stretford and Urmston
			Altrincham and Sale	Altrincham and Sale West
			Manchester, Wythenshawe	Wythenshawe and Sale East
			Littleborough and Saddleworth	Oldham East and Saddleworth
			Oldham Central and Royton	Oldham West and Royton
			Oldham West
			Salford East	Salford
Hampshire	15	17		Hampshire North East	Comprised the majority of the existing Hampshire East seat, which was reconfigured and effectively formed a new constituency.
			New Forest	New Forest West
				New Forest East
			Romsey and Waterside	Romsey
Hereford and Worcester	7	8		Redditch	Comprised the majority of the existing Worcestershire Mid seat, which was reconfigured and effectively formed a new constituency.
Hereford and Worcester	7	8	Worcestershire South	Worcestershire West
Hertfordshire	10	11	Hertfordshire North	Hertfordshire North East
				Hitchin and Harpenden
			Hertfordshire West	Hemel Hempstead
Humberside	9	10	Kingston upon Hull West	Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle
			Bridlington	Yorkshire East	Major reconfiguration
				Beverley and Holderness
			Beverley	Haltemprice and Howdon
			Boothferry	Brigg and Goole
			Glanford and Scunthorpe	Scunthorpe
			Brigg and Cleethorpes	Cleethorpes
Isle of Wight	1	1
Kent	16	17	Faversham	Sittingbourne and Sheppey
				Faversham and Kent Mid
			Kent Mid	Chatham and Aylesford
			Maidstone	Maidstone and The Weald
Lancashire	16	15	Lancaster	Lancaster and Wyre
			Wyre
			Blackpool North	Blackpool North and Fleetwood
Leicestershire	9	10		Charnwood
Lincolnshire	6	7	Gainsborough and Horncastle	Gainsborough
			Lindsey East	Louth and Horncastle
			Holland with Boston	Boston and Skegness
			Stamford and Spalding	South Holland and The Deepings
				Grantham and Stamford
			Grantham	Sleaford and North Hykeham
Merseyside	17	16	Knowsley North	Knowsley North and Sefton East
			Liverpool Broadgreen	Liverpool Wavertree
			Liverpool Mossley Hill
Norfolk	8	8
North Yorkshire	6	7	Harrogate	Harrogate and Knaresborough
				Vale of York
			York	City of York	Name change only
			Scarborough	Scarborough and Whitby	Name change only
Northamptonshire	6	6
Northumberland	4	4
Nottinghamshire	11	11
Oxfordshire	6	6
Shropshire	4	5		Telford	Comprised the majority of the existing The Wrekin seat, which was reconfigured and effectively formed a new constituency.
Somerset	5	5
South Yorkshire	15	15	Barnsley East	Barnsley East and Mexborough
Staffordshire	11	12		Stone	Major reconfiguration
			Staffordshire Mid	Lichfield	Major reconfiguration
			Cannock and Burntwood	Cannock Chase
			Staffordshire South East	Tamworth
Suffolk	6	7	Suffolk Central	Suffolk Central and Ipswich North
Suffolk	6	7		Suffolk West	Comprised the majority of the existing Bury St Edmunds seat, which was reconfigured and effectively formed a new constituency.
Surrey	11	11	Surrey North West	Surrey Heath
			Chertsey and Walton	Runnymede and Weybridge
			Esher	Esher and Walton
Tyne and Wear	13	13	Wallsend	Tyneside North
			Newcastle upon Tyne East	Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend
			Gateshead East	Gateshead East and Washington West
			Houghton and Washington	Houghton and Washington East
Warwickshire	5	5
West Midlands	31	29	Dudley East	Dudley North
			Dudley West	Dudley South
			Halesowen and Stourbridge	Stourbridge	Electorate of Halesowen and Stourbridge distributed more-or-less equally between two new constituencies.
			Halesowen and Stourbridge	Halesowen and Rowley Regis
			Warley West
			Warley East	Warley
			Birmingham, Small Heath
			Birmingham, Sparkbrook	Birmingham, Sparkbrook and Small Heath
			Coventry South East	Coventry South
			Coventry South West
West Sussex	7	8	Arundel	Bognor Regis and Littlehampton
				Arundel and South Downs
			Shoreham	Worthing East and Shoreham
			Worthing	Worthing West
West Yorkshire	23	23	Morley and Leeds South	Morley and Rothwell
Wiltshire	5	6		Swindon North
Wiltshire	5	6	Swindon	Swindon South

Wales

The number of seats in Wales was increased from 38 to 40 through the creation of an additional seat in the counties of Clwyd and Dyfed.

County	No of seats		Old seat	New seat
County	Before	After	Old seat	New seat
Clwyd	5	6	Clwyd North West	Clwyd West
				Vale of Clwyd
			Clwyd South West	Clwyd South
Dyfed	4	5	Ceredigion and Pembroke North	Ceredigion
			Pembroke	Preseli Pembrokeshire
				Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
			Carmarthen	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
Gwent	6	6
Gwynedd	4	4
Mid Glamorgan	7	7
Powys	2	2
South Glamorgan	5	5
West Glamorgan	5	5

Scotland

The number of seats in Scotland remained at 72, with an additional seat in Grampian region being offset by the loss of a seat in the City of Glasgow in Strathclyde region.

Region	No of seats		Old seat	New seat
Region	Before	After	Old seat	New seat
Borders	2	2
Central	4	4	Clackmannan	Ochil
Dumfries and Galloway	2	2
Fife	5	5
Grampian	6	7		Aberdeen Central
Grampian	6	7	Kincardine and Deeside	Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine
Highland	3	3	Caithness and Sutherland	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
			Ross, Cromarty and Skye	Ross, Skye and Inverness West
			Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber	Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber
Lothian	10	10	Edinburgh East	Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
Lothian	10	10	Edinburgh, Leith	Edinburgh North and Leith
Strathclyde	33	32	Monklands East	Airdrie and Shotts
			Monklands West	Coatbridge and Chryston
			Motherwell North	Hamilton North and Bellshill
			Motherwell South	Motherwell and Wishaw
			Hamilton	Hamilton South
			Greenock and Port Glasgow	Greenock and Inverclyde
			Renfrew West and Inverclyde	Renfrewshire West
			Glasgow Garscadden	Glasgow Anniesland
			Glasgow Hillhead	Glasgow Kelvin
			Glasgow Central
			Glasgow Provan	Glasgow Baillieston
Tayside	5	5	Angus East	Angus
Tayside	5	5	Perth and Kinross	Perth
Islands Areas	2	2

Northern Ireland

The number of seats in Northern Ireland was increased from 17 to 18 through the creation of West Tyrone. This comprised the majority of the existing Mid Ulster seat, which was reconfigured and effectively formed a new constituency.

Notes and References

Rossiter 1999, The Boundary Commissions: Redrawing the UK's Map of Parliamentary Constituencies
Web site: Johnston . Neil . 17 November 2022 . Constituency boundary reviews and the number of MPs . 15 December 2022 . House of Commons library . 76.
Web site: Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 (as enacted) . 15 December 2022 . Legislation.gov.uk.
Web site: Boundary Commissions Act 1992 (as enacted) . 15 December 2022 . Legislation.gov.uk.
Web site: 11 April 1995 . The Parliamentary Constituencies (Scotland) Order 1995 . 15 December 2022 . legislation.gov.uk.
Web site: 11 April 1995 . The Parliamentary Constituencies (Wales) Order 1995 . 15 December 2022 . legislation.gov.uk.
Web site: 28 June 1995 . The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995 . 15 December 2022 . legislation.gov.uk.
Web site: 23 November 1995 . The Parliamentary Constituencies (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 . 15 December 2022 . legislation.gov.uk.