Britain's ruling Conservative Party will see its electoral chances enhanced significantly, with 10 more MPs potentially added after boundary changes are introduced for the next general election.
While Parliament will retain a total of 650 members, more constituencies will be created in areas that favour the Tories.
Parts of northern England, Wales and Scotland will lose seats, as they now have fewer voters owing to population shifts. Wales will lose up to eight seats and Scotland three, although both countries have their own devolved assemblies providing a degree of self-government.
The Office for National Statistics on Tuesday released the latest population figures for each constituency, showing some broad differences in voter numbers. For example, in the east London constituency of West Ham there are 98,000 registered voters, compared to 55,000 in Wirral West, near Liverpool.
The UK smallest constituency of Arfon in Wales has even fewer voters, with only 42,000 registered.
The UK's Boundary Commission will examine the numbers in detail and decide where to alter electoral boundaries in time for the next election expected in 2024.
Some electoral experts believe the change is well overdue, with some MPs overwhelmed by constituent queries, while others representing less populated areas have less work to do.
"If you go back to the early 19th century, things were getting very unbalanced with big new towns like Birmingham and Manchester having very few MPs and tiny places that were falling into the sea still having two members each," electoral expert Martin Baker told The National. "By 2020 it was clear that a fair bit of the population had moved away from northern England towards southern England."
Under the Parliamentary Constituencies Act, all 650 areas will be redrawn, with around 73,000 voters each. The last change took place in 2010 based on data from 2000.
However, the changes will adversely affect the Labour Party, which needs to gain 124 seats to form a majority government in the next election.
While the number of London seats will increase by a handful, favouring Labour, the South East is expected to gain seven and the South West three, with both areas strong in Tory voters.
“Although all this is very fair and part of good electoral governance, it will benefit the Conservative Party,” said Mr Baxter, founder of the website Electoral Calculus. “The government is putting it forward with probably two thoughts in their head. One is the right thing to do administratively and secondly it doesn’t do them any harm.
"The key thing is that the decision in the end still rests with the people of the United Kingdom, they get to choose the MPs that go to Westminster and this really just enables their choice to be made more fairly.”
MPs will no longer be able to vote on the current plans, so it will be left to political parties to influence any changes to the electoral map. Many members will attempt to stop their seats disappearing or boundary changes that might result in them losing comfortable majorities – MPs from the same party in neighbouring constituencies might even start lobbying against each other in the interests of self-preservation.
“There won’t be a row as such, but there will be, no question, political manoeuvrings,” said Robert Hayward, a Conservative psephology expert. “The target for the parties is to produce the largest number of seats in a close election. They don’t want massively safe seats.”
Reviews of parliamentary constituencies are carried out by independent boundary commissions. The government said the updated borders would reflect "significant changes in demographics, housebuilding and migration".
A plan to use the boundary changes to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to around 600 has been shelved.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Cricket World Cup League 2 Fixtures
Saturday March 5, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy (all matches start at 9.30am)
Sunday March 6, Oman v Namibia, ICC Academy
Tuesday March 8, UAE v Namibia, ICC Academy
Wednesday March 9, UAE v Oman, ICC Academy
Friday March 11, Oman v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Saturday March 12, UAE v Namibia, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, CP Rizwan, Vriitya Aravind, Asif Khan, Basil Hameed, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Karthik Meiyappan, Akif Raja, Rahul Bhatia
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
The Farewell
Director: Lulu Wang
Stars: Awkwafina, Zhao Shuzhen, Diana Lin, Tzi Ma
Four stars
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
OPTA'S PREDICTED TABLE
1. Liverpool 101 points
2. Manchester City 80
3. Leicester 67
4. Chelsea 63
5. Manchester United 61
6. Tottenham 58
7. Wolves 56
8. Arsenal 56
9. Sheffield United 55
10. Everton 50
11. Burnley 49
12. Crystal Palace 49
13. Newcastle 46
14. Southampton 44
15. West Ham 39
16. Brighton 37
17. Watford 36
18. Bournemouth 36
19. Aston Villa 32
20. Norwich City 29
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
Roll of honour 2019-2020
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
Runners up: Bahrain
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership
UAE Premiership
Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
UAE Division One
Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes II
UAE Division Two
Winners: Barrelhouse
Runners up: RAK Rugby
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
India squads
T20: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, Shardul Thakur
Test: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant
Seemar’s top six for the Dubai World Cup Carnival:
1. Reynaldothewizard
2. North America
3. Raven’s Corner
4. Hawkesbury
5. New Maharajah
6. Secret Ambition
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Casket match The Undertaker v Chris Jericho
John Cena v Triple H
Matches to be announced
WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship, United States Championship and the Cruiserweight Championship are all due to be defended
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister
Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
If you go...
Flying
There is no simple way to get to Punta Arenas from the UAE, with flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi requiring at least two connections to reach this part of Patagonia. Flights start from about Dh6,250.
Touring
Chile Nativo offers the amended Los Dientes trek with expert guides and porters who are met in Puerto Williams on Isla Navarino. The trip starts and ends in Punta Arenas and lasts for six days in total. Prices start from Dh8,795.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
