This is a decrease from forty constituencies, last used in the general election of December 2019 which had resulted in 22 of the Welsh constituencies being represented by Labour MPs, 14 by Conservative MPs, and 4 by Plaid Cymru MPs.[1] The number of constituencies was reduced from 40 to 32,[2] as part of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, in which the Boundary Commission for Wales set the boundaries of the new constituencies, following a process starting in 2021[3] and concluding on 28 June 2023 when the final recommendations were published by the commission.[2]
Until 2026, the devolved Senedd will continue using 40 constituencies as in the previous UK Parliament, but would later replace them with 16 Senedd constituencies comprising pairings of the 32 UK Parliament constituencies.
The Boundary Commission for Wales submitted their final proposals in respect of the Sixth Review in September 2018. Although the proposals were immediately laid before Parliament they were not brought forward by the Government for approval. Accordingly, they did not come into effect for the 2019 election which took place on 12 December 2019, and which was contested using the constituency boundaries in place since 2010.
On 24 March 2020, the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Chloe Smith, issued a written statement to Parliament setting out the Government's thinking with regard to parliamentary boundaries.[6] Subsequently, the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020[7] was passed into law on 14 December 2020 which formally removed the duty to implement the 2018 review and set out the framework for future boundary reviews.
2023 periodic review
Maps of the 40 constituencies to be used up to 2024 (left), and the 32 constituencies from 2024.
The Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 was passed in December 2020, and the publication of the most recent data of electorate sizes of constituencies on 5 January 2021, lead the Boundary Commission for Wales to begin its review of the parliamentary constituencies in Wales, with the commission required to publish its final recommendations for boundary changes by 1 July 2023. By December 2021, the commission published the responses collected during the consultation period, and then conducted a six-week 'secondary consultation. Unlike the previous periodic review, the total UK constituencies was kept at 650.
When proportionally dividing the total 2021 electoral population of the United Kingdom using a statutory formula between the constituent countries of the UK, it results in England having 543 constituencies, Scotland having 57, Wales having 32 and Northern Ireland with the remaining 18. Each constituency recommended to have no more than 77,062 electors and no less than 69,724.[8] The figure from Wales is calculated to be 8 seats lower from the total constituencies used for the 2019 UK general election when there were 40 constituencies, the largest decrease of any UK country or region. Wales has one 'protected constituency' not subject to UK electoral quotas, Ynys Môn on the Isle of Anglesey, where boundary changes are not applied. The decrease in constituencies in Wales has been described by the commission to represent "the most significant change to Wales's constituencies in a century", and the commission has no control over the number of constituencies in Wales. The final proposal published by the commission no longer required parliamentary approval and the recommendations in the final report were implemented automatically, however the second consultation period allowed public hearing about the proposals. The commission stated that it tried wherever possible to use existing local government boundaries, such as those of existing constituencies and principal areas.
Final recommendations
Labelled map of the 32 new constituencies in Wales to be used from the 2024 UK general election.
The final recommendations on the new constituencies in Wales were published on 28 June 2023 by the Boundary Commission for Wales.[2][9] This followed years of proposals and consultations since 2021, with initial proposals published in 2021[3] and revised in 2022.[8]
Categorisation of status is purely based on the names used by the constituencies, if a new constituency largely overlaps with a previous one but was renamed, it is considered a new constituency.
New – Did not exist previously with either the name or boundaries.
Expanded – Keeps name but gains wards.
Redefined – Keeps name but with other altered boundaries.
Revived – Former constituency revived under the same name(s).
