BOUNDARY SHAKE-UP
Island and mainland
NORTH Wales Labour and Conservative MPs could have to fight it out between themselves to keep their seats if plans to slash the number of constituencies go ahead.
In what is being trumpeted as the biggest change to the boundaries since World War II, three of the region’s 10 parliamentary seats could be cut.
Anglesey could find itself no longer with its own dedicated MP, merging with parts of north Gwynedd.
One possible battle could be between Conservatives’ Guto Bebb and David Jones, whose neighbouring Aberconwy and Clwyd West constituencies would merge into a single Conwy and Colwyn seat.
Labour MPs Ian Lucas and Susan Elan Jones could see their Wrexham and Clwyd South seats merged into a single Wrexham seat, which would include much of Mrs Jones’ Clwyd South landscape.
But Mr Lucas dismissed the proposed boundaries as a power grab, saying the plans to reduce the UK’s parliamentarians from 650 to 600 are thought to favour the Tories.
He said: “While I am happier with these proposals than previous ones, they remain a cynical exercise by the Conservatives – and one which is unlikely to pass given the current political situation.
“What remains important to me is working for the people of Wrexham whatever that seat ends up looking like.”
Mrs Jones said: “Under the revised proposals, the new South Clwyd and North Montgomery constituency is well above 1,000 square kilometres, with Welshpool, Machynlleth, Denbigh, Ruabon and Llandrillo in the same seat.
“Some people from our area go on holiday to Welshpool and Machynlleth, so it’s just unbelievable to think that all those places and many more are supposed to be in a single parliamentary constituency.
“I know many people think that the revised boundary changes won’t be adopted because the Tory Government doesn’t have the required support to get them through Parliament. My view is that they should be dropped anyway.”
One of the biggest changes could see Anglesey merged with Bangor and its surroundings.
The rest of Gwynedd would become a single constituency, while parts of Aberconwy, Clwyd West and the Vale of Clwyd would form the Conwy and Colwyn seat. There would also be a huge, mainly rural constituency stretching from Denbigh in the north to Welshpool in the south.
The sitting MPs for most of this area are the Conservative Party’s Glyn Davies and David Jones.
Mr Jones said: “I do have concerns about some of the proposed constituencies which do not recognise some of the local affiliations.
“I have no doubt I will be making representations to the electoral commission about these proposals.”
Labour’s David Hanson and Chris Ruane could see much of their seats combined to make a new Flint and Rhuddlan seat that could make for another intra-party contest to become the candidate there.
At the moment the UK Government feels there are too many big differences in the sizes of constituencies and in re-drawing them the boundary commission has tried to have seats that represent 75,000 people each.
Liz Saville Roberts, MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, said: “Plaid Cymru is not opposed to the principle of cutting the number of MPs.
“If we are to have less of a say on crucial policy decisions in Westminster, we need to make sure as many of those important decisions as possible are made in our own Parliament – the National Assembly.”
There will be a two-month consultation before final boundaries are published next year.
They will then need to be agreed by a majority in Parliament before they can go ahead.
The proposals remain a cynical exercise by the Conservatives WREXHAM MP IAN LUCAS