Post 2024 General Election – UK Postcode to Parliamentary Constituencies

Parliamentary constituency boundaries will change at the next UK general election. The four Boundary Commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland published their final recommendations in late June 2023 following three rounds of public consultation.  We have spent a great deal of time collating the new 2024 UK Election areas by Postcode.

Most constituencies will have new boundaries. Overall, just over half of the existing constituencies (332) will be very similar to their closest successor (with over 90% of premises in the same constituency before and after the change).  No changes – 65 seats (one in 10) will have no change to their boundaries, although four of these will have a new name. The remaining 585 seats will have at least some change. Small changes – 40 seats will have only a small change to their boundaries (in some cases affecting only a few premises).

Enlarged constituencies – 76 seats will be enlarged compared with their current boundaries. This means that the new constituency covers all (or almost all) of the current constituency’s area, but also extends to areas that used to be part of different constituencies. These seats would mostly have been too small to meet the minimum electorate threshold in their current form.

Reduced constituencies – 73 seats will be reduced in size compared with their current boundaries. This means that they give up areas to other new constituencies but gain no (or almost no) new areas. These seats would mostly have had electorates higher than the maximum threshold in their current form. An example, Sheffield Central, is shown in the map below.

Abolished constituencies – A constituency is sometimes said to be “abolished” if its area is split between many surrounding constituencies and/or there is no obvious successor. There is no definitive list of abolished constituencies.

Output

Three file formats are available: Comma Separated Variable (CSV), Microsoft Access (ACC) and Microsoft Excel (XLS).

The CSV version consists of two text files with header records and will open in any common application including SQL, Word, MS Access and MS Excel.  Initially you receive one ZIP compressed file that when unpacked will reveal ten product files:

(1) Files PCL-PRL-UK-CSV_1.csv & (2) PCL-PRL-UK-CSV_2.csv together represent all current live Postcodes in the UK with the 2024 Election boundary code and name.

(3) File PCL-PRL-UK-CSV_Retired.csv contains Postcodes which have now been retired from the Postal system and therefore are no longer in circulation. This file is supplied to provide a comprehensive ‘history’ of Postcodes and the forthcoming Constituency boundary.

Fields presented in the consolidated files (1) & (2):

• The Full Postcode (eg UB7 0EB)
• The Postcode Sector (eg UB7 0)
• The Postcode District (eg UB7)
• The Postcode Area (eg UB)
• Westminster Parliamentary Constituency Code (e.g. S14000001)
• Westminster Parliamentary Constituency Name (e.g. Aberdeen North)
• MP Name (e.g. Kirsty Blackman)
• Political Party (e.g. Scottish National Party)
• Alternative Scottish Parliamentary Constituency or Welsh Assembly (e.g. Aberdeen Central)
• MSP Name (e.g. Kevin Stewart)
• MSP Party (e.g. Scottish National)
• Scottish Parliament Region (e.g. North East Scotland)
• Welsh Assembly (e.g. Vale of Glamorgan)
• AM Name (e.g. Jane Hutt)
• AM Party (e.g. South Wales Central)
• Welsh Assembly Region (e.g. South Wales Central)
• Country (e.g. Scotland)
• Date Postcode Introduced (e.g. 201106)
• Date Postcode Retired (if applicable)
• Post 2023 Code (eg. E14001202) **
• Post 2024 Name (eg. Dover and Deal) **

**Note that the new changes are just for England and Wales so the Post 2024 columns for Scotland and Wales are blank.

Applications

The Parliamentary Constituency data is ideal for relating Postcodes and address information to the respective Post 2024 Parliamentary Constituencies.

The data is essential for:

• Pre planning
• Updating Strategy and Context
• Government Relations Officers or Political Policy Makers
• Relate Postcodes and addresses to the new UK political geography
• Determining which constituencies to lobby