HOW the North-East is to lose three MPs will be revealed on Monday.

Many villages, and even some towns, in south Durham and the Tees Valley will find themselves in new constituencies by the next election.

The re-drawing of the boundaries is because of David Cameron’s pledge to save money by reducing the number of MPs, and seats, from 650 to 600.

This means the average number of voters in each constituency must rise from 68,175 to 76,641.

The North-East will lose three of its 29 MPs, although north North Yorkshire – where William Hague’s Richmond constituency has 78,902 voters – is likely to be largely unaffected.

One seat will go in Tyne and Wear, another seems likely to be lost in Northumberland, but the biggest battlefield looks likely to be on the boundary between south Durham and the Tees Valley.

County Durham currently has six MPs whereas, in the future, it will only be entitled to 5.3, and the Tees Valley currently has seven MPs whereas it is only entitled to 6.5.

The most radical reshaping seems likely to take place in the Sedgefield and Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland seats.

The villages around Darlington – Piercebridge, Heighington, Middleton St George and Hurworth – all seem likely to find themselves in new constituencies.

The Boundary Commission, which is carrying out the review, is not allowed to straddle seats across regional boundaries.

It must also “have regard for” local government boundaries, and it must bear in mind “local ties”.

The big question is what happens to Sedgefield, the current boundaries of which were created in 1983 when an unknown candidate called Tony Blair won it.

Will Sedgefield be scrapped, with its many villages being consumed by the surrounding constituencies, or will it be enlarged to take in Newton Aycliffe, Sedgefield and Billingham?

The Boundary Commission is independent, but politics is bound to enter into the subsequent public consultation.

The Conservatives will want to safeguard Stockton South, where James Wharton holds a slender 332 majority, perhaps by arguing the case for somewhere like Middleton St George to be included.

Labour will want to protect Jenny Chapman’s 3,388 majority in Darlington, perhaps by stopping too many of the Conservatively- inclined villages joining the constituency.

And the Liberal Democrats will be eager to look after Redcar, which Ian Swales surprisingly won at the last election, by preventing it from being enlarged to include too many Labour-voting areas of Cleveland.

All the MPs will be summoned to a room in the House of Commons at noon on Monday to learn what the commission plans to do to their seats. There will then be 12 weeks of consultation. The public are invited to have their say at various hearings.

In North Yorkshire, The Golden Lion in Northallerton is the venue on October 20 and 21. The Newcastle hearing is at the Civic Centre on November 14 and 15, and the St George Hotel at Durham Tees Valley Airport will host another hearing on November 17 and 18.

The commission will then review its plans, followed by another bout of consultation.

The new boundaries are to become operational in 2013.