In an FT interview today, David Cameron has stated that an incoming Conservative Government would, as a first term priority, reduce the number of MPs by approximately 60. These measures will entail huge public savings (quite sound in the current economic climate and given people's concerns about MP expenses and the like). He believed “the House of Commons could do the job that it does with 10 per cent fewer MPs without any trouble at all.”The Tories would push for an urgent boundary review proposing seats of the same size across the UK. The electoral map would be redrawn with seats being abolished in Wales (currently over-represented at Westminster) and inner cities.
The bottom line is that the current system creates a substantial imbalance: as Conservative Home have noted, a 10% poll lead (as today for the Conservatives) translates into a Tory majority of 34 but for Labour, it would instead amount to 136. Labour may say this is gerrymandering but the current system needs to be fair and also reflect the shift in population over the years from urban areas to the suburbs and countryside.
1 comments:
Agreed. My town is represented by two Labour MPs. They both represent constituent's individual problems well, but there is a lot of duplication of effort now that they have very little substantive work to do in our Provincial Parliament. One MP would be more than sufficient.
I do have a gripe in that they vote 100% for any government issue despite some strong objections from their constituents.
Their unwillingness to deviate one jot from the party line is going to cost them dearly in the next election, if I am judging local opinion correctly.
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