The parliamentary boundary commission has recommended various changes to the boundaries in Beckenham, creating a new constituency of Beckenham and Penge.
These changes will be implemented in 2023 and will apply to the next General Election.
The three Labour wards in the north of Bromley borough will transfer into the new Beckenham and Penge constituency. Two conservative wards (Hayes & Coney Hall, and Bromley Common & Holwood) in the current constituency will transfer into a new Bromley and Biggin Hill Constituency.
Instead of Beckenham being a safe Conservative seat, Beckenham & Penge will be a Conservative marginal seat. The website electoral calculus currently predicts a Labour victory in the new constituency.
Labour has always been the main challenger to the Conservatives in the current constituency. Labour was second to the Conservatives in the general elections in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Local Labour supporters should tell their friends and family that there will be an opportunity to elect a Labour Member of Parliament at the next general election in the new Beckenham and Penge constituency.
Harold Wilson once said that a week in politics is a long time. The Labour Party’s lead in the polls may not decrease the nearer we come to the general election. The Elections Act 2022 which requires voter photographic identification at the polling station will suppress voting create difficulties. The bus pass for pensioners is acceptable identification but the equivalent pass for young people is not. Voting by post does not require identification.
Labour supporters who want to elect a Labour Member of Parliament should contact the local Labour party and get involved in the campaign activities.
