Residents in the west of Lewisham could be voting for an MP shared with Southwark rather than Bromley in the next general election, according to proposals from the Boundary Commission for England.
The Commission published its initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituencies on Tuesday (June 8) - the changes involve redrawing and renaming some seats.
The aim of the shake-up is to make Parliament fairer by giving each MP a similar number of voters, according to the Commission.
The 2023 Review of Parliamentary constituencies was formally launched in January this year.
The number of constituencies in England will increase from 533 to 543, while the number in London will increase from 73 to 75.
Under the proposals just under 10 per cent of the existing 533 English constituencies remain unchanged.
The change currently proposed in Lewisham is to get rid of the Lewisham West and Penge constituency, which is shared with Bromley, and create a new Dulwich and Sydenham constituency, shared with Southwark.
The seat for Lewisham West and Penge is currently held by Labour MP Ellie Reeves, while Dulwich and West Norwood is held by Labour MP Helen Hayes.
Lewisham Deptford would decrease slightly in size, be called Deptford, and no longer include Hither Green, which would be part of Lewisham East.
The Commission has proposed that every constituency in Southwark change in name, Bermondsey and Old Southwark would be gone, with a new Bermondsey and Borough Ward created, smaller and pulled back from Lambeth.
Camberwell and Peckham would be removed, with a new smaller Peckham constituency and Vauxhall and Camberwell constituency to the west introduced.
South of the new Vauxhall and Camberwell in Lambeth would be a new Clapham and Brixton constituency, forming part of the current Vauxhall, Streatham, and Dulwich and West Norwood constituencies.
South of that would be Streatham, already a constituency but it would stretch into West Norwood under the initial proposals.
The public can now view and provide feedback on the proposals as part of an eight-week consultation, to close on August 2.
To view the proposals go here.
There will be a further two rounds of consultation in 2022.
Tim Bowden, secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said: “Today’s proposals mark the first time people get to see what the new map of Parliamentary constituencies might look like.
“But they are just the Commission’s initial thoughts. Help us draw the line to make the number of electors in each Parliamentary constituency more equal.
“Each constituency we recommend is required by law to contain between 69,724 and 77,062 electors, meaning there will be significant change to current boundaries.
“We want to hear the views of the public to ensure that we get the new boundaries for Parliamentary constituencies right.”
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