Boundary proposals could see Wales lose eight of its MPs and lead to the splitting up of constituencies which have been in place for decades.

The public is being urged to give its views on the proposed redrawing of the parliamentary map in Wales which will come into force at the next general election.

Tory peer and polling expert Lord Hayward predicted that if the proposals are adopted, they could result in two or three Conservative losses, three or four Labour losses, and Plaid Cymru losing either one or two seats.

Boundary changes are also taking place in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland in order to reflect population shifts across the UK – with the Tories looking set to gain 10 seats in the overall restructure.

The Boundary Commission for Wales is opening an eight-week consultation on the plans for its nation which could reduce the number of Welsh MPs from 40 to 32.

The reduction represents the “most significant change to Wales’s constituencies in a century” and would result in a parliamentary map “very different from the one we are familiar with”, the commission said.

England’s boundary commission, which published its proposals ahead of the summer recess, confirmed the country’s seats would rise from 533 to 543.

Under the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 (as amended), each nation and region of the UK is given a share of 650 MPs based on the number of registered electors.

The act also says that each constituency must contain between 69,724 and 77,062 voters, 5% either way of the UK average.

There is one exception to this rule in Wales – Ynys Mon can remain outside of the statutory range.

Other than this constituency, boundary changes are proposed for all others in Wales.

Some constituencies would also see names changed under the proposals, while some would be fully absorbed into neighbouring seats.

The commission explained that under its initial proposals six principal councils would be wholly contained within new constituencies – Blaenau Gwent, Ceredigion, the Isle of Anglesey, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire and Torfaen.

Some 16 existing constituencies would be wholly contained within new ones under the proposals.

Where electoral wards are currently split across more than one existing parliamentary constituency, the commission has proposed they should be entirely allocated to just one constituency.

Secretary to the Boundary Commission for Wales, Shereen Williams, said: “We’re confident that our proposals are a strong first attempt to create a workable map of 32 Welsh constituencies.

“The purpose of our initial proposals however is to start the conversation about how the new map will look.”

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts, described the UK government’s plan to reduce the number of Welsh MPs as “the most recent of steps on the Tory pathway to taking back control to Westminster”.

The new proposals and consultation portal are available on the Boundary Commission for Wales website, www.bcw-reviews.org.uk.

The consultation period will close on 3 November.

Related posts:

Hancock says vaccine rollout a ‘huge team effort’ after Cummings calls his department ‘smoking ruin’ PM: No change to roadmap out of lockdown despite UK facing cut in vaccine supply UK to donate at least 100 million surplus COVID vaccine doses to other countries within the next year, PM says Downing Street urges England fans not to boo footballers taking the knee PM urges G7 not to ‘repeat the mistake’ of 2008 financial crash during COVID recovery Macron ‘tells PM to keep his word’ amid Northern Ireland sausage trade row PM scored an own goal over Brexit at G7 despite favourable conditions Arlene Foster formally resigns as Northern Ireland first minister Green Party co-leader to stand down over party’s ‘mixed messages’ on trans rights PM ‘lied to parliament’ about Downing Street party, Dominic Cummings says Is the game up? Johnson looks defeated as mood turns sour in Tory party How an electrifying moment in parliament and fuming Tory MPs show toxicity towards Boris Johnson is spreading throughout the party