The political makeup of Greater Manchester could drastically change after a review into the constituency boundaries which may bring radical change - including new constituencies.
The Boundary Commission for England has revised proposals after taking into consideration counters from objectors across the region. These objectors were mainly sitting MPs wanting to protect their areas identities after some wards were split up in the original proposals launched back in 2021.
This could change how the constituency areas could look and who people would be voting for by the next general election.
Despite the North West as a whole losing two constituencies, Greater Manchester would continue to have 27 MPs sitting in Parliament but the areas they represent may change names. The commission has put forward some radical changes which would see areas change or lose their current MP.
Large numbers of constituencies would also be rebranded and include extra neighbourhoods.
The new Blackley makeup would no longer contain any wards from the City of Salford, nor the Cheetham ward from the City of Manchester. The final consultation on this review ends on December 5, 2022.
After that a final report would be sent to parliament and published by July 1, 2023 with the findings and recommendations.
Bolton
Currently Bolton is represented by three MPs, serving Bolton North East, Bolton South East, and Bolton West. Serving in parliament currently are Conservative MP Mark Logan for Bolton North East, Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi for Bolton South East and Tory MP Chris Green for Bolton West.
Bolton West is largely unchanged under the Boundary Commission proposals, however they want to include the Hulton ward within the constituency. This is because the Atherton ward is proposed to become part of a Wigan MP’s patch.
The Bolton North East constituency would also take on the Little Lever and Darcy Lever ward to the south east of Bolton, away from Bolton South. Bolton South would instead take on the Salford wards of Walkden North, Walkden South, and Little Hulton, in order to bring it within the electorate range.
Bury
At this moment in time, Bury is represented in Westminster by two MPs, Conservative James Daly for Bury North and Labour MP Christian Wakeford for Bury South. The Boundary Commission says that the number of voters in the Bury North constituency is currently ‘under the permitted range’.
Therefore it is proposing to include the Radcliffe North ward within Bury North, removing it from Bury South. To make up for the loss of Radcliffe North, the Bury South constituency will include the Salford area of Kersal and Broughton Park ward - no changes from the initial proposal in 2021
Manchester
The largest borough in Greater Manchester in terms of population, Manchester also has the largest number of MPs – with five constituencies. Currently all the representatives are Labour, with Mike Kane for Wythenshawe and Sale East, Afzal Khan for Gorton, Lucy Powell for Manchester Central, Jeff Smith for Withington and Graham Stringer for Blackley and Broughton.
One of the biggest shake ups in these revised proposals would be the resurrection of the Manchester Rusholme Constituency which was abolished back in 1950. This would comprise the Ardwick, Fallowfield, Hulme, Moss Side, Rusholme and Whalley Range wards.
To make way for the sixth Manchester ward, the current Blackley and Broughton constituency would be dissolved and the wards would be redistributed into Manchester Blackley and Bury South constituencies, the proposals have suggested.
Manchester Blackley, Manchester Central, Manchester Rusholme, Manchester Withington, Wythenshawe and Sale East and Gorton and Denton.
Oldham
The Boundary Commission is recommending that the two main existing Oldham constituencies, Oldham East and Saddleworth and Oldham West and Royton, remain ‘wholly unchanged’. They are currently represented by Labour MPs Debbie Abrahams and Jim McMahon respectively.
The Alexandra and St Mary’s wards, which sit within the existing Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency, could be exchanged with the Royton North and Royton South wards, both currently within the existing Oldham West and Royton constituency.
Rochdale
Currently Rochdale has two parliamentary constituencies, Rochdale, and Heywood and Middleton. Rochdale is represented by Tony Lloyd for Labour, while Heywood and Middleton is held by Conservative Chris Clarkson.
In order to decrease the electorate of the existing Rochdale constituency, which was too high, the commission proposed that the Spotland and Falinge wards be included in the Heywood constituency, which would no longer include the wards of South Middleton and East Middleton. As the whole of Middleton would no longer be included in the constituency, it has been proposed that the constituency be named simply Heywood.
Salford
Salford is currently covered by three MPs, who represent the areas Worsley and Eccles South, Salford and Eccles, and Blackley and Broughton. These are Labour MPs Barbara Keeley, Rebecca Long Bailey and Graham Stringer.
Under the new proposals, Broughton would now be included in the new ‘Salford’ constituency. There would only be Salford and the Worsley and Eccles wards that would wholly serve the people of Salford.
Technically, the borough would be served by four MPs, as residents in Little Hulton, Walkden North and Walkden South would be represented through the Bolton South and Walken constituency, and residents in Kersal and Broughton Park represented by the Bury South constituency.
Stockport
Stockport’s MPs are currently divided across four areas, the main Stockport constituency, Cheadle, Hazel Grove, and Denton and Reddish. They are represented by Labour’s Navendu Mishra, Conservatives Mary Robinson and William Wragg, and Labour MP Andrew Gwynne.
The revised proposals have made no changes to the original plans drafted back in 2021. Under the Boundary Commission proposals, the wards of Reddish North and Reddish South would now fall under the Stockport constituency and Denton would form part of the new Gorton and Denton constituency in Manchester. The Manor ward which was covered by Stockport would be added to the Hazel Grove constituency.
The Cheadle constituency would be unchanged, meaning the borough of Stockport would have three MPs going forward.
Tameside
The borough of Tameside has three MPs in parliament under the current system, representing Stalybridge and Hyde, Ashton-under-Lyne as well as Denton and Reddish. These are Labour members Jonathan Reynolds, Angela Rayner and Andrew Gwynne.
Under the proposed shake-up, Denton and Reddish would effectively vanish – losing the Reddish wards to Stockport and the Denton wards to Manchester’s Gorton and Denton constituency. The existing Stalybridge and Hyde constituency entirely unchanged.
Additionally, an Ashton-under-Lyne constituency containing all the remaining Tameside wards, barring the three named Denton wards. These three Denton wards would be included with four wards from the City of Manchester: Burnage, Gorton & Abbey Hey, Levenshulme, and Longsight.
Trafford
The borough of Trafford is currently represented by three MPs – two Labour and one Conservative. They are Graham Brady, Tory MP for Altrincham and Sale West, Kate Green, the Labour MP for Stretford and Urmston and Michael Kane, Labour MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East.
Under the revised proposals Trafford would see no changes to its current constituencies.
Wigan
Wigan is represented by four MPs in parliament, for the constituencies of Makerfield, Bolton West, Leigh and Wigan. In office currently are Labour’s Yvonne Fovargue, Conservative Chris Green, Tory James Grundy and Labour MP Lisa Nandy.
Bolton’s constituency would be kicked out under these new plans as Atherton would become part of a newly named Leigh and Atherton Borough Constituency. ‘Common sense prevailed’ as Makerfield MP suggested with the initial proposals in 2021 - to put Ashton in Leigh and Leigh West in Makerfield - have been reversed.
This came after strong opposition to the original plans from the MPs of Leigh and Makerfield. The Wigan constituency would remain unchanged.
What the Boundary Commission for England has said
Speaking on the revised plans released on November 8, Tim Bowden, Secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said: “Today we are announcing the publication of our revised proposals. Last year we published our initial proposals for new constituency boundaries – our first go at what the map should look like.
"We are delighted with the huge number of comments from members of the public on our initial proposals, many which included valuable evidence about local communities. Today’s publication is the culmination of months of analysis and we have revised nearly half of our initial proposals based on what people have told us.
"We now believe we are close to the best map of constituencies that can be achieved under the rules we are working to. However, we still want people to tell us what they think of this latest map before we submit our final recommendations to Parliament next year.
"This is our final consultation and I encourage you to participate in the 2023 Boundary Review.”
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