The Boundary Commission published their proposed changes to the size and shape of constituencies on Monday, June 7, which could have an impact on the constituency of Hastings & Rye.
The proposals will see the electoral boundary move. This would see rural areas north of Hastings, such as Westfield, Broad Oak and Udimore falling out of the Hastings & Rye constituency while areas such as Flackley Ash, Rye Foreign and Playden will be included.
It’s hard to know how this will affect voting patterns at the next election but previously the Hastings & Rye constituency has been a marginal. In 2019 the Conservative candidate Sally-Ann Hart won with a healthy majority of around 4,000 votes over her Labour challenger, but in the 2017 election the sitting Conservative MP Amber Rudd’s majority dipped to under 400 votes. Looking further back the constituency was a Labour seat for 13 years prior to the 2010 election, when Amber Rudd was first elected.
The changes to the size of constituencies has come about because of population changes across the UK. Overall, Scotland and Wales will lose MPs while England, specifically the South East, will gain MPs. It’s expected that the number of MPs representing the South East will increase from 84 to 91 to keep the size of each constituency roughly equal in size.
The Boundary Commission is running a consultation on the proposed changes until August 2, more details can be found here.
Image Credits: Boundary Commission for England .
No, no. no. As a resident of Brede I do not want to be linked to Bexhill, even if it is only by association with an MP.
Brede – very difficult to find on the map unless you zoom right in although it is the Parish in which Broad Oak and the settlement of Cackle Street are both situated – is more connected to Rye than ever it is with Bexhill. We get very little attention from either the District Council in Bexhill or the County Council in Lewes as it is, having an MP for Bexhill and area gives me little optimism for the future.
Let Hastings have its’ own MP as it always did, and for the surrounding area to the east of the A21 have an MP who would be able to be more representative of the population in that part of rural Sussex.
It is likely the population numbers would balance, if not now, in the near future, so there would be fair representation.