The 2024 General Election will be the first with reshaped electoral boundaries for Cheshire West voters, with significant changes in the Chester area.
As part of the Boundary Commission for England's grand scheme to make the hundreds of constituencies 'fairer', so they would each contain roughly the same number of residents – within five per cent of 73,393.
But while that initiative has been rolled out without too many issues in other parts of the country, it has led to an awkward situation for Chester, where the historic city has been split into two constituencies.
So while eligible Chester voters were able to cast their vote for the City of Chester constituency in the December 2022 by-election, that may not necessarily be the case in July this year.
Three quarters of the City of Chester boundary now moves into the new Chester North and Neston constituency. It has already been announced Labour's Samantha Dixon, current MP for City of Chester, will be campaigning for this seat, while Cllr Simon Eardley will contest it for the Conservatives, Stephen Gribbon will be the Liberal Democrat candidate, Nick Brown is the Green Party's pick, and Danny Clarke will stand as the Reform UK candidate.
However, 23.5 per cent of the City of Chester constituency – mostly south of the River Dee, including Handbridge, Lache, Dodleston, Eccleston and Aldford, but also Christleton and Littleton – will be placed into the Chester South and Eddisbury constituency.
Those voters are guaranteed to end up with a new MP, as current Eddisbury MP Edward Timpson, for the Conservatives, has already announced he was standing down.
Again, all the major political parties have announced candidates for this seat. Labour has chosen Manchester city councillor Angeliki Stogia, the Conservatives have picked Aphra Brandreth – daughter of former Chester MP Gyles Brandreth – while the Liberal Democrats have picked former City of Chester candidate Rob Herd, the Green Party have chosen Steve Davies and Reform UK have selected Peter Langley.
The tiny remaining part of the former City of Chester patch (1.3 per cent), comprising of Guilden Sutton, will go into the new Runcorn and Helsby constituency, which will include Frodsham, Stoak, Elton, Kingsley and Daresbury. Largely the former Weaver Vale constituency, Labour incumbent Mike Amesbury will campaign for this seat, with Chris Rowe (Liberal Democrats), Chris Copeman (Green), Jason Moorcroft (Reform UK) and Paul Murphy (SDP) currently confirmed as candidates.
As alluded to above, the current Ellesmere Port and Neston constituency also undergoes changes, but not quite as drastic as Chester's. The Neston part goes to the Chester North and Neston patch, with 7.1 per cent being sliced off to Runcorn and Helsby. In its replacement, the constituency now becomes Ellesmere Port and Bromborough which, as well as Ellesmere Port, will also contain Eastham Village, Bromborough and New Ferry.
Labour's Justin Madders, who has been MP for Ellesmere Port and Neston since 2015, will contest the reshaped seat, while Chris Carubia (Liberal Democrats), Harry Gorman (Green) and Mark Sheridan (Reform UK) are also currently confirmed candidates.
A full list of candidates is to be announced in the next couple of weeks.
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