THE political map of Nottingham faces a drastic overhaul which could see areas outside the city lumped in with urban parliamentary seats.

Last night the House of Commons gave a green light to plans which will see constituencies across the UK "equalised" – so there are at least 71,000 registered voters in each.

All of Nottingham's parliamentary constituencies currently have well below that number of registered voters, according to figures from the Boundary Commission for England.

New boundaries will not be confirmed until a review has been completed.

But it is likely Nottingham's constituencies will have to expand to include registered voters currently living in Broxtowe, Sherwood, Gedling and Rushcliffe.

Prime Minister David Cameron and his Liberal Democrat deputy Nick Clegg claim the changes are needed so every MP represents around the same number of registered voters in the House of Commons.

But Labour MPs, including those in Nottingham, claim the Government's redrawing exercise will not account for some three million people not currently registered to vote.

They argue the Government should first be encouraging those people to enter their names on the electoral roll before any boundaries are redrawn.

Nottingham East MP Chris Leslie, said: "We need to be looking first at things like automatic registration techniques – so that if you are a council taxpayer, for example, then you automatically go on the electoral register.

"Until the registration problem is addressed it is potentially unfair to redraw the boundaries in a way that does not account for such a large number of people who are not registered to vote, who are not having their voice heard."

It is the Nottingham East seat of Mr Leslie, with 57,000 registered voters – 14,000 below the required level now set out by the Government – that could see the biggest changes under the plans.

Nottingham South has 66,000 registered voters, some 5,400 below the benchmark, and Nottingham North has 63,000 registered voters, around 8,300 short.

Newark, Broxtowe, Sherwood, Gedling and Rushcliffe all have above or around the required number of registered voters – meaning they may lose some to the city constituencies.

Meanwhile Ashfield, Mansfield and Bassetlaw all have between 6,000 and 8,000 more registered voters than the required level and so are likely to become smaller.

Gedling MP Vernon Coaker – who may lose some voters from his constituency to neighbouring Nottingham East – agreed that the Government should not redraw boundaries until voter registration has increased.

He said: "When we question ministers over this their response is always to say that Labour did nothing to increase voter registration over the last 13 years.

"That's really not fair. We did a lot, introducing all sorts of measures to try and increase registration. We didn't have the impact we'd hoped for, but that doesn't stop the issue from being a problem that needs dealing with first."

Mr Coaker also warned the Government's plans to redraw boundaries would not take account of historical ties, leaving some communities split between seats in order to achieve parity in registered voters. Furthermore, he raised fears that boundary changes might be "forced through" without local consultation.

But speaking in the House of Commons, last night, Nick Clegg claimed the changes would make the voting system fairer.

"Our priority must be to ensure that a person's vote is of equal worth wherever they live in the United Kingdom," he said.