New Lancashire constituency boundaries

The Boundary Commission plans to reduce the number of Lancashire seats from 16 to 14 as part of an overhaul of the county’s political landscape.

Parts of inner city Preston will move over to the Ribble Valley constituency and suburban villages will be moved on to urban seats.

Preston’s Labour MP Mark Hendrick has voiced his concern about the changes. He told the Lancashire Evening Post:

“I am very unhappy with these changes.

“They are a gerrymandering exercise to curry political persuasion.

“Fishwick, for instance, is an inner city ward. It has nothing to do with the Ribble Valley whatsoever.

“The Preston ward, and many others, is being redrawn to include the leafy suburbs around the city that would traditionally help the Conservatives.

“That said, in Preston, I don’t think it will have a major impact.

“I would still be confident of retaining the seat.”

Read the full story over on the LEP website, and take a look at the full documentation produced by the Boundary Commission for the North West here.

Photo credit: Guardian Datastore