2023 Parliamentary Review
This page gives summary information about the 2023 Parliamentary Review, with links to further information relating to each stage of the Review.
The Commission’s Guide to the 2023 Review provides further information on the Review process.
Initial Proposals – 8 September 2021
The best place to see interactive maps of our proposals and send us your views on what we have proposed is our consultation portal. Please ensure you send us your views on the proposals by no later than the closing date of the consultation period –3 November 2021.
If you wish to read our Initial Proposals Report, view images of proposed constituencies or download electorate data used in the Review, please see the download area at the bottom of this page.
Image background mapping and geospatial data © Crown Copyright and database rights [2021] OS [100047875]. Use of this data is subject to terms and conditions.
Places of deposit for hard copies of proposals
We deposit a hard copy of our proposals for new constituencies in at least one public place in the relevant proposed constituency. We have published a full listing of places of deposit (Excel document) in the download area at the bottom of this page. Please be aware that some public places have limited opening hours, and additional access restrictions may also be in place locally to protect against the spread of COVID-19. Anyone interested in viewing these hard copies is therefore strongly advised to contact the place of deposit directly (not the BCW) to confirm the particular access arrangements in place for that site.
General Information about the 2023 Review
Following the passing of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 in December 2020, and the publication of the relevant Parliamentary electorate data in January 2021, we began a new review of all Parliamentary constituencies in Wales. We refer to this as the ‘2023 Review’, as we are required to report with our final recommendations by 1 July 2023.
Applying the statutory formula to the electorate figures means the total 650 constituencies is distributed during the review to the four parts of the UK as follows:
- England = 543 (includes two ‘protected’ constituencies on the Isle of Wight);
- Scotland = 57 (includes two ‘protected’ constituencies for specified Scottish islands);
- Wales = 32 (includes one ‘protected’ constituency on the Isle of Anglesey); and
- Northern Ireland = 18
Application of the statutory formula results in a decrease of 8 Parliamentary Constituencies across Wales.
Application of further statutory rules to the published electorate also means that all recommended constituencies must have no less than 69,724 Parliamentary electors and no more than 77,062 (except those ‘protected’ constituencies mentioned above). By law, these electorate figures relate to the electorates as they were on 2 March 2020.
What Happens Now?
On 8 September 2021 we published our initial proposals for how the 32 constituencies for Wales could be drawn up within the legal parameters mentioned above. This commences a statutory consultation period of eight weeks (closing 3 November 2021), when anyone can give us their views on those proposals. We will be particularly interested to hear from people about the extent to which the proposals reflect the local ties in the area, and if people disagree with our proposals, how they think they should be amended.
There are two further rounds of public consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Commission has created a Frequently Asked Questions document which may provide answers to any general queries you may have on the Parliamentary Review Process. This document can be found in the downloads area at the bottom of this page.
Timetable of the Review
Our initial outline timetable is planned as follows:
- 5 January 2021: Publication of electorate figures by ONS, BCW begin development of initial proposals;
- 16 March 2021: Publish ‘Guide to the 2023 Review’;
- 8 September 2021: Publish initial proposals and conduct eight-week consultation;
- December 2021: Publish responses to initial proposals
- January 2022: conduct six-week ‘secondary consultation’, including between two and five public hearings in each region;
- Late 2022: Publish revised proposals and conduct four-week written consultation;
- June 2023: Submit and publish final report and recommendations.
You can read more about the process, law and policies we work to in the review in our Guide to the 2023 Review.
We have created a partner pack, which includes our press release, copy and graphics for your website or social media channels, an FAQ and more to help you publicise the 2023 Boundary Review. The Commission’s Partner Pack can be found in the downloads area at the bottom of this page.
All information about this review will be published via this section of our website, with key updates and notifications also issued via our Twitter account @BCommWales.
