Why your general election constituencies will not be the same this year

Millions of us will be heading out to vote in six weeks' time after Rishi Sunak called a general election for July 4. While it will come only a few weeks after the local elections, it's been nearly five years since the last national poll.

Many people in the West Midlands may be familiar with their constituencies as they have remained largely the same for years. But this has now all changed following a major redrawing of the electoral map and boundary changes.

It means some households will find themselves in different or completely new constituencies. They may be in an area which was previously safe Conservative or Labour but may no longer be the case. The MP who was elected last time may no longer be standing where they live.

READ MORE: Where the July 4 election will be won and lost in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Walsall

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Why has this happened? Well, the boundary changes were made in a bid to make the population of each constituency roughly the same, or as close as possible.

In the West Midlands, each elected MP will represent around 70,000-75,000 people. In some areas it will mean big changes because of the make-up of the population of the redesigned constituencies.

Areas may have lived with a Conservative MP for decades but now find themselves grouped with more traditional Labour voters, or vice versa. There are some who think their vote doesn't matter as the party they support never wins anyway.

Well, it'll be worth checking the make-up of the constituency this time. Not too much is different in Birmingham but there have been major changes in parts of the Black Country.

The seats of Dudley South, Walsall South and Stone have disappeared completely, while part of Wolverhampton has been redrawn. The overall total of seats for the West Midlands, which includes places like Staffordshire, Herefordshire and Warwickshire, is down from 59 to 57. The changes have left some MPs looking for new homes.

Notable changes in Birmingham include the newly-named seat of Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull. Some residents previously of Meriden and Birmingham Yardley are being shifted over to the new seat.

Elsewhere, around a quarter of voters previously situated in Birmingham Hodge Hill are being moved to Birmingham Ladywood. In the Black Country, completely new seats of Walsall and Bloxwich; Tipton and Wednesbury; and Smethwick have been created.

Tipton and Wednesbury will take in a large proportion of households previously in West Bromwich West. There will now just be a single seat of Dudley, mostly featuring people previously of the Dudley North constituency.

Half of previous Dudley South voters will now join with Staffordshire voters in the new seat of Kingswinford and South Staffordshire. Some voters previously of Walsall North and Walsall South will find themselves in Wolverhampton South East, meanwhile, perhaps controversially.

It potentially makes results for our region more difficult to predict, particularly after many traditional Labour areas voted for Boris Johnson's Conservatives in 2019. Further details on the new constituencies can be viewed here.

Birmingham - new seat names

• Birmingham Edgbaston

• Birmingham Erdington

• Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley

• Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North

• Birmingham Ladywood

• Birmingham Northfield

• Birmingham Perry Barr

• Birmingham Selly Oak

• Birmingham Yardley

• Sutton Coldfield

Old seat names (and 2019 result)

• Birmingham Edgbaston - Labour

• Birmingham Erdington - Labour

• Birmingham Hall Green - Labour

• Birmingham Hodge Hill - Labour

• Birmingham Ladywood - Labour

• Birmingham Northfield - Conservative

• Birmingham Perry Barr - Labour

• Birmingham Selly Oak - Labour

• Birmingham Yardley - Labour

• Solihull - Conservative

• Sutton Coldfield - Conservative

Black Country - new seat names

• Aldridge-Brownhills

• Dudley

• Halesowen

• Smethwick

• Stourbridge

• Tipton and Wednesbury

• Walsall and Bloxwich

• West Bromwich

• Wolverhampton North East

• Wolverhampton South East

• Wolverhampton West

Old seat names (and 2019 result)

• Aldridge-Brownhills - Conservative

• Dudley North - Conservative

• Dudley South - Conservative

• Halesowen and Rowley Regis - Conservative

• Stourbridge - Conservative

• Walsall North - Conservative

• Walsall South - Labour

• Warley - Labour

• West Bromwich East - Conservative

• West Bromwich West - Conservative

• Wolverhampton North East - Conservative

• Wolverhampton South East - Labour

• Wolverhampton South West - Conservative