History of Parliamentary constituencies and boundaries in Cambridgeshire

The only change resulting from the Great Reform Act of 1832, which radically changed the representation of the House of Commons, was to increase the representation of Cambridgeshire to 3 MPs.

Under the Reform Act of 1867, the representation of the Borough of Huntingdon was reduced to 1 MP.

The Borough of Huntingdon was abolished and Huntingdonshire was divided into 2 single-member constituencies, namely the Northern or Ramsey Division and the Southern or Huntingdon Division.

The Wisbech Division was replaced by the Parliamentary County of Isle of Ely, and included the city of Ely, which had been in the Newmarket Division, and a small area in the north of the Chesterton Division.

Areas of the expanded Municipal Borough of Cambridge which had been in the Chesterton Division were now included in the Parliamentary Borough, with the remainder of Newmarket and Chesterton being combined to form the re-established Parliamentary County of Cambridgeshire.

The Ramsey and Huntingdon Divisions were also combined to form the re-established Parliamentary County of Huntingdonshire.

These constituencies remained more-or-less unchanged until 1974.

Following the Second Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies,[3] which came into effect for the February 1974 general election, Peterborough was redesignated as a borough constituency, composed of the local authorities which had comprised the Soke, together with the small Rural District of Thorney, which was transferred from the county/constituency of Isle of Ely.

The only other change affected Huntingdonshire, gaining the village of Eaton Socon, which had been in the county of Bedfordshire/constituency of Mid Bedfordshire, and had been absorbed into the Urban District of St Neots.*

• Huntingdon comprised the majority of the former constituency of Huntingdonshire, including Huntingdon, Godmanchester, Ramsey and St Ives.  Areas to the west of Peterborough, including Barnack and Werrington, were transferred from the borough constituency of Peterborough, whilst areas to the south of the River Nene, including Fletton and the Ortons, which were now part of the expanded City of Peterborough, were included in Peterborough.
• North East Cambridgeshire was formed from the Isle of Ely, with the exception of the city of Ely itself. It also included Thorney and Eye, transferred back from Peterborough.
• South East Cambridgeshire included eastern areas, comprising the majority of the former constituency of Cambridgeshire, as well as the city of Ely.
• South West Cambridgeshire was made up from parts of three existing constituencies: southern parts of Huntingdonshire, including St Neots; western parts of Cambridgeshire; and the City of Cambridge wards of Trumpington and Queen Edith's, transferred from Cambridge.

To compensate for the loss of northern areas, Huntingdon gained southern parts of the former county, including St Neots, from South West Cambridgeshire, which was consequently renamed South Cambridgeshire.

Other changes included the transfer of north-western areas from South East Cambridgeshire to South Cambridgeshire and a small area from North East Cambridgeshire to South East Cambridgeshire.

These changes, which were implemented at the 2010 general election, included the transfer back of Thorney and Eye from North East Cambridgeshire to Peterborough, the return of the Cambridge ward of Trumpington from South Cambridgeshire to the Cambridge constituency, and small transfers of rural wards from North West Cambridgeshire to Huntingdon, and from South East Cambridgeshire to South Cambridgeshire.