Mole Valley MP Sir Paul Beresford has welcomed the “minimal” changes to constituency boundaries across Surrey in a nationwide shake-up of MPs’ seats.

The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) has proposed that Sir Paul’s constituency, which includes Leatherhead and Dorking, would lose Send ward to its neighbouring Woking constituency, and gain Oxshott and Stoke D’Abernon from the Esher and Walton constituency.

The proposed changes would see the number of MPs in England cut from 533 to 501, in Scotland, from 59 to 53, from 40 to 29 in Wales, and from 18 to 17 in Northern Ireland.

In its report, Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the South East region, the BCE state that this would even out electoral quotas in Surrey.

The changes, which would come into effect from September 2018, would be made to ensure that in each constituency, “an electorate is no smaller than 71,031 and no larger than 78,507".

Sir Paul Beresford, MP for Mole Valley, said: “It’s important that each person’s vote has roughly the same weight throughout the nation.

“I’m losing a good ward and gaining a good ward.

“Losing Send is a shame from my point of view, because I’m working with them in fighting the green belt battle.

“However, I am still MP for Send until the next election and I would’ve thought that battle would’ve been fought and won by then.”

He was also happy about that no indication was given to change the name of his constituency from Mole Valley to Mid Surrey.

“We’ve been Mole Valley for a long time,” he said.

“It’s a popular name.”

Transport secretary Chris Grayling’s Epsom and Ewell constituency and Foreign Affairs Select Committee chair Crispin Blunt’s Reigate and Banstead constituency remain unchanged under the proposals.

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