With an election predicted to take place anywhere between May or November, we at Polimapper are delighted to launch our new parliamentary constituency map, complete with postcode search.
We have mapped every UK postcode against the new constituencies that will come into effect the moment an election is called, making our maps as easy as possible to navigate.
This feature will be particularly useful for any clients who use the maps as a public facing tool in the run up to the election, where members of the public are either unsure or don’t know what constituency they live in.
The constituency based search remains available via a simple switch, and you can still explore our maps and view any constituency simply by clicking into it.
To demonstrate this functionality we have visualised demographic data on the new constituencies, which was published by the House of Commons library.
Some of the demographic insights from this include:
- Following the creation of two separate constituencies on the Isle of Wight, a noticeable division can be seen in relation to housing tenure on the western and eastern halves of this island.
- Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK where each constituency has a total population exceeding 100,000 people.
- Bristol Central, which was recreated for 2024 after being abolished in the 1970s, has the highest proportion of private renters in the UK.
- The Isle of Wight East becomes the smallest constituency in the UK in terms of total population.
Why have the boundaries changed?
The boundaries of parliamentary constituencies hadn’t been reviewed for many years, leading to wide variations in constituency populations. In England, constituencies ranged between 53,210 voters and 109,246.
The boundary review, which was carried out by four boundary commissions for each of the UK’s four nations, has equalised constituency size, meaning the largest and smallest constituencies by population only differ by just over 7,000 voters. The only exceptions to this are five protected island constituencies, including the Isle of Wight, that fall outside of this range.
The boundary commissions completed their review in July 2023 and their recommendations were put into law by parliament in November of the same year. The resultant changes see England gain 10 constituencies (up to 543), Wales lose 8 constituencies (down to 32), Scotland lose 2 constituencies (down to 57) and Northern Ireland remain unchanged.
The majority of constituencies in the UK will experience some change in composition. In England, for example, only 55 out of 533 remain completely unchanged. And some will be completely abolished.
Kingswood, for example, won last week by Labour’s Damien Egan, will not exist once a general election is called. He will stand for election in the seat of Bristol North East.
What boundaries should I use between now and the election?
One question we are often asked by clients looking to create constituency visualisations is whether they should plot against the existing or the new constituency boundaries.
The answer as to ‘new’, ‘existing’ or ‘both’ depends on who you are looking to engage with. If your focus between now and the election is existing MPs, then use the current boundaries.
If on the other hand you’re looking to engage with the candidates and build relationships with key personnel before they are elected, then use the new boundaries.
Of course, if you’re seeking to balance the new and the old, then you can always visualise data on both sets of boundaries.
Click here to view the original data published by the House of Commons Library.