Parliamentary boundary change plans criticised by Telford MP Lucy Allan

Voters are having their say on planned changes to the areas covered by the county's five MPs, which include enlarging the existing Telford seat and creating a new constituency covering The Wrekin, Wellington and Bridgnorth.

Under the plans, Ms Allan could see the urban areas of Donnington and Hadley & Leegomery join her constituency.

The changes are part of a national plan to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600.

While she supported the idea of creating constituencies of equal size, Ms Allan said the proposals needed to be looked at again.

“It is unlikely these proposals will gain sufficient support in Parliament when they are brought forward next year," she said.

“I support the objective of creating constituencies of equal sizes. However, the process will not achieve this objective. The process fails to take account of voters who first registered to vote in the referendum in 2016 and those who first registered to vote in the 2017 general election.

"It also fails to take account of areas, like Telford, where the population is rapidly growing. Under the current proposals Telford would become a ‘supersized’ constituency, and would be well in excess of the maximum size recommended by the Boundary Commission.

“Given that the next General Election is not scheduled to take place until 2022, there is plenty of time for the Government and Boundary Commission to address these short comings, so that the objective of equal sized constituencies can be achieved.”

After an initial consultation drawn up in autumn last year, the Boundary Commission for England put forward proposed new boundary changes in January.

The public was then invited to comment on the changes, which resulted in the proposals put forward today.

The commission will then publish its final proposals to go before Parliament by September next year.