Major boundary changes proposed for the Carlisle constituency

Major changes to the Carlisle parliamentary constituency have been revealed this week as part of the boundary commission’s proposals for the next general election.

The changes were ‘entirely predictable’ according to current Carlisle MP, John Stevenson as residents of Dalston, Durdar, Cummersdale and Burgh by Sands are all set to be incorporated into the new ‘Penrith and the Solway’ constituency with Brampton and Longtown to be included within the Carlisle constituency borders.

Carlisle will now reach up to both the Scottish and Northumberland Borders going through to meet the Hexham constituency in the east.

The proposed Penrith and the Solway constituency will run from Alston through to Maryport, taking a large chunk of the current Workington constituency.

The planned 10,000-home St Cuthbert's Garden Village site on Carlisle's southern border would also lie within the Penrith and the Solway constituency.

A further consultation will now begin with members of the public until December 5, before the boundary commission submits its final proposals to parliament next year.

“The proposed changes are entirely predictable and the most logical thing to do” Carlisle MP, John Stevenson said.

“I’m sad to see Dalston leave Carlisle but looking forward to welcoming new areas to the constituency.”

“We’ve got to accept that the boundary reviews are a numbers game and Cumbria is a good example of where the boundary commission have listened to people’s concerns and changed.”

Dalston has been included in Carlisle since Tony Blair’s landslide election win of 1997, having previously been a part of Penrith and the Border.

The introduction of rural, conservative supporting wards such as Burgh and Wetheral helped turn Carlisle from a safe Labour seat into a leaning Conservative seat, with John Stevenson achieving his largest majority at the 2019 election since being elected in the 2010 general election.

The constituency is now to pick up more rural areas towards the east of the city from the current Penrith and the Border constituency.

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“My constituency currently has 60 farms and will pick up substantially more as it takes in more rural areas,” John Stevenson said.

“We’ve also always had a strong affiliation with the Scottish Borders and I’m looking forward to standing in the new constituency.”

Former Labour MP for Carlisle from 1987 until 2010, Eric Martlew, said the changes were 'what we expected'.

“In reality we’ve had a constituency stolen from us in North Cumbria and we’re a long way from Westminster,” said Eric Martlew.

“It doesn’t make any sense to put Carlisle Racecourse in the same constituency as Maryport.”

Critics of the new proposed boundary changes have accused the Conservatives of “gerrymandering”, an accusation which John Stevenson vehemently denied.

“There’s no suggestion of that whatsoever,” said John Stevenson.

“It’s a numbers game and the boundary commission is an entirely independent body which people can query with.”

The Labour Party must win seats like Carlisle in order to have a chance of forming a government at the next election and when asked whether the new boundaries could have an impact on Labour’s chances, Mr Martlew said: “It’s slightly worse, but not by much.”

“I think historically we’ve had councillors in Brampton and Longtown and we’ve never won a seat in Dalston, but people are changing.

“More middle-class voters with degrees are voting Labour and we just can’t tell anymore how people will vote.

“There’s not the same tribal areas anymore and we saw that across the red wall in the last general election.

“At the end of the day, the voters will decide on who beats the Tories.”

Following further consultations, the final constituency boundary changes will be released next year.

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