Under a law passed in the last Parliament there will be a reduction from 650 to 600 MPs before the next general election, and (almost) all constitutencies will have to be within 5% of each other in voter numbers. At the moment, the largest constituency has 112,000 voters, and the smallest just 22,000. Islands are protected under the legislation (ie the won't be joined into mainland constituencies).
This is clearly going to have a dramatic impact on UK politics. The over-representation of Scotland in Parliament will be corrected, as will the undervaluing of rural votes. Cornwall, BTW, isn't happy, as one of its constituencies will stretch into Devon, producing some of the best quotes from the last Parliament "It's the Tamar, not the Amazon, for heaven's sake" (Cameron), and "This is Cornwall, and over there that is England" (Lib Dem MP).
Labour opposed the bill as it likely removes a bias in their favour in the current arrangements, and no doubt the SNP will be hopping mad, just because they always are, but also because Scotland loses 6 MPs. It currently takes about 10,000 fewer votes to elect an SNP MP than it does a Labour MP, and Conservatives need a thousand more than Labour do to win a seat on average.
The 4 UK Boundary Commissions start their work on this matter this year, and have to finish by 2018 so that constituencies are settled in time for the next election in 2020. I for one welcome the reduction in the number of MPs, and the requirement for equal sized (voter numbers) constituencies. Does anyone see it another way?
This is clearly going to have a dramatic impact on UK politics. The over-representation of Scotland in Parliament will be corrected, as will the undervaluing of rural votes. Cornwall, BTW, isn't happy, as one of its constituencies will stretch into Devon, producing some of the best quotes from the last Parliament "It's the Tamar, not the Amazon, for heaven's sake" (Cameron), and "This is Cornwall, and over there that is England" (Lib Dem MP).
Labour opposed the bill as it likely removes a bias in their favour in the current arrangements, and no doubt the SNP will be hopping mad, just because they always are, but also because Scotland loses 6 MPs. It currently takes about 10,000 fewer votes to elect an SNP MP than it does a Labour MP, and Conservatives need a thousand more than Labour do to win a seat on average.
The 4 UK Boundary Commissions start their work on this matter this year, and have to finish by 2018 so that constituencies are settled in time for the next election in 2020. I for one welcome the reduction in the number of MPs, and the requirement for equal sized (voter numbers) constituencies. Does anyone see it another way?
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1WRXd8k
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