Suffolk's MPs will be contesting the next election on an electoral map that has seen the biggest changes in more than 40 years.

Most constituencies are seeing boundary changes - and for the first time a new Waveney Valley seat will straddle the Suffolk/Norfolk border.

The new constituencies have been approved by the Boundary Commission for England and are now in the hands of the Speaker of the House of Commons - and are due to be formally approved by the Privy Council at the end of October.

Any general election held after that approval has been given will be fought on the new boundaries.

These boundaries are unchanged from the proposals outlined at the end of last year.

Ipswich remains unchanged. There are some changes to the West Suffolk, Bury St Edmunds, South Suffolk and Suffolk Coastal constituencies - and the current Waveney seat loses Bungay and is renamed Lowestoft to reflect its tightened boundaries.

Central Suffolk and North Ipswich gains Needham Market from the Bury seat and villages around Ufford from Suffolk Coastal but it loses much of its north, including the towns of Eye and Stradbroke, to the new Waveney Valley Constituency which includes much of the current South Norfolk seat.

Sitting MP Dr Dan Poulter said he would gain about 4,000 voters - but lose 10,000 in the creation of the new seat.

Most of Suffolk's MPs have now been readopted for the next election - although there will be new faces in West Suffolk, where Matt Hancock is stepping down, and in the Waveney Valley.

The Ipswich and Lowestoft seats will both be seen as marginal.

This is the biggest change in the political map of Suffolk since the 1983 General Election which introduced constituencies based loosely on the council boundaries in the county - and it will force political parties to reorganise themselves.

But by the time the next election comes around - probably in the autumn of next year - the new organisations should be ready for the contest.