Rishi Sunak’s surprise announcement that voters will be heading to the polls in just over five weeks’ time has caught many off guard but there may be another surprise in store for voters when they get to the polling booth.
What many may not know is that with boundary changes affecting 90% of constituencies, lots of Brits will be voting in unfamiliar territory. Thousands of people will find the name of their constituency has changed since the 2019 General Election when they go to choose a candidate to be their MP this time around.
But fear not, we have created an interactive guide that shows you which General Election 2024 constituency you will be voting in this time around. Just type in your postcode to see the name of your 2024 constituency, the name of the previous constituency (where it has changed) and the name of your sitting MP.
Following three rounds of public consultations, the Boundary Commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland published their final recommendations for new parliamentary constituencies last summer.
This means the majority of constituencies will change in some way at the general election and in some cases voters will be asked to cast their ballot in a completely new seat. The latest review has been conducted to ensure all constituencies are roughly the same size and respect local ties between areas.
Except for five protected island seats, all constituencies must have population sizes within 5% of the “electoral quota” of 73,393. That means most constituencies will see at least some boundary changes.
However, around half of all seats (332) will remain very similar with about 90% of households remaining in the same constituency before and after the change. Sixty-five seats, or about one in 10, will see no changes to their boundaries – although four will have a new name – but the remaining 585 seats will have at least some change.
Of the constituencies that will see changes, 40 will only see a slight change, in some cases only affecting a handful of properties. The boundaries of 76 constituencies will be extended to take in new properties, while 73 will be reduced, meaning some properties will be swapped to a new seat.