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Campaigners are calling for Middlesex to make a comeback on the county map as part of the Government's overhaul of local authorities. The Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government is reorganising some councils in England as it calls time on the two-tier system of county and district councils, and replaces them with dozens of new single-tier unitary councils by 2029.

The Government says the move will bring "stronger local councils empowered across local services, equipped to drive economic growth, improve local public services and empower their communities". In some cases this will mean existing county councils being split up and the district councils that operate beneath them abolished. Surrey County Council is among them, with the local authority currently set to be divided into two unitary councils in 2027, becoming West Surrey, and East Surrey.

The Western half of Surrey county council includes parts of the historic county of Middlesex, including a small part around Staines and Shepperton, after Middlesex ceased to be a county council in 1965, with most of it being absorbed into Greater London, The Telegraph reports.

The Association of British Counties (ABC) is pushing for the historical parts of Middlesex to be reflected in the name of Western unitary council, and have proposed that it instead be called West Surrey and South Middlesex.

A spokesperson for ABC told the newspaper: "Since 1965, the people of the Spelthorne area of Middlesex have suffered the indignity of being under a local authority absurdly called Surrey county council.

"But with the abolition of Surrey county council in April 2027, it is time to right this historic wrong and to bring the Middlesex identity of Spelthorne to the fore.

They added that the organisation objects that the western part, which will includes the Spelthorne area of Middlesex, should be called West Surrey council, noting that it will include 20 square miles of Middlesex. The group Middlesex Heritage has also backed the move.

The issue was raised in Parliament, with Steven Reed, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, signalling he would be open to considering it.

Lincoln Jopp, the Tory MP for Spelthorne told the house: "I have received a huge number of representations from constituents who would like the Secretary of State to consider calling that unitary authority West Surrey and South Middlesex...

"... to take account of the fact that Spelthorne has been in Middlesex for 1,000 years and has never really thought of itself as being in Surrey."

Mr Reed responded that he will "ensure that he gets an appropriate meeting on the point that he has raised, either with me or one of my fellow ministers".