VILLAGES near Durham will no longer be represented by the city’s MP under new proposals to shake-up constituency boundaries.

The proposals, announced this week by the Boundary Commission for England, will see the City of Durham constituency redrawn to include Tow Law and parts of Sunderland.

Meanwhile Bowburn and Coxhoe would be part of a new East Durham constituency, which would also include eight wards from the existing Sedgefield constituency, Trimdon and Thornley, Shotton and South Hetton and two wards from Hartlepool.

The proposals would be part of the Government’s 2018 boundary review, which if approved will see the number of MPs cut from 650 to 600 – saving £66 million over five years.

Durham MP Roberta Blackman-Woods said: “I’m very sad that Bowburn, Coxhoe, Kelloe and Quarrington Hill and that whole area are being removed because I have very strong links with them.

“At this stage we haven’t had a chance to consider the knock-on effect.”

Labour councillor Maria Plews, who represents Coxhoe, said: “I don’t agree with it. I think we are far more aligned to Durham City. That’s our constituency. The villages are aligned to that but not to East Durham, which is more about Teesside and Sunderland.

“It’s such a rural area this end. To have one person to understand both sets of problems is difficult.”

The new City of Durham constituency would take in the wards of Esh and Witton Gilbert, Deerness and Tow Law, which are currently part of North West Durham and Hetton ward, which is part of Sunderland.

In the North-East the number of MPs would be cut from 29 to 25.

The boundaries have been redrawn to ensure that they contain equally-sized constituencies of between 71,000 and 78,500 electors.

Constitution minister Chris Skidmore said: “Our democracy and our parliamentary system need to represent everyone equally. That’s why the independent Boundary Commissions are proposing measures to achieve equal sized constituencies that will ensure an equal say for each voter. As it stands, some constituencies have twice as many electors as other constituencies and that cannot be right.”

He added: “We are committed to ensuring fair and equal representation for the voting public across the UK is in place by the next general election.”

The proposals have been criticised by Labour MPs, who have said 30 of the 50 seats set to disappear are currently held by the party.