Some MPs are more equal than others
THE 19th century Chartist movement saw millions of working class men join a campaign for democracy.
And while their demands were initially rejected, many of their ideas became law in the decades that followed.
The Chartist movement was named after the People's Charter, published in 1838. It called for universal suffrage (although only for men) and for equal representation, meaning every constituency should have roughly the same number of voters.
But today, some constituencies are significantly bigger than others. And this, arguably, means that some votes count for more than others.
So MPs are debating proposals to redraw parliamentary boundaries.
The Parliamentary Constituencies Bill this week received its third reading in the House of Commons. It will now be considered by the House of Lords, but it's well on its way to becoming law.
The Bill scraps the findings of the last review of constituencies, which took place in 2018.
Instead, it orders the Boundary
Commissions of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to begin new reviews next year, to be completed by July 1, 2023.
There will be regular reviews every eight years after that. And the findings of the Boundary Commissions will now be put into practice automatically, without requiring Parliamentary approval.
A key change with recent reviews is that the Government has abandoned plans to cut the number of MPs to 600.
This used to be Tory policy, and was partly an attempt to show that MPs were making the same sacrifices as other public sector workers, as funding cuts led to job losses.
Boris Johnson, however, has abandoned austerity, and the legislation fixes the number of MPs at the current figure of 650.
So why are reviews needed? At the moment, there are significant differences in constituency sizes.
For example, the Aldridge-Brownhills constituency in the Black Country had 59,540 registered voters in December 2019.
Dudley South had 60,731. Dudley North had 62,321 and West Bromwich East had 62,514.
Meanwhile, the constituency of Meriden had 83,643 voters. Birmingham Selly Oak had 80,825 and Birmingham Hall Green had 79,247. In the wider West Midlands area, the constituency of Stoke Central has just 55,419 voters.
So clearly, it's a bit unfair. At the same time, there are always difficulties when trying to change constituency boundaries.
The plan is to ensure that every seat, with the exception of four island constituencies (Orkney and Shetland, Na h-Eileanan an Iar and two seats on the Isle of Wight), has roughly the same number of voters, which is calculated by taking the total number of voters in all the remaining seats and dividing them by 646.
At the moment, this gives 72,613 voters per constituency. The number could change before the next review takes place.
Some variation is allowed, as it will be impossible to hit that figure exactly.
But the number of voters in each seat must be within five per cent of the target, which would mean between 68,982 and 76,243 voters, if the review was held today.
There's no guarantee you can divide a city like Birmingham into constituencies while obeying this rule.
The Boundary Commission for England may be forced to propose seats which straddle parts of Birmingham and also parts of the Black Country, or of Solihull.
Some people feel this is a problem but others aren't too bothered, but it can make life harder for MPs.
They often work closely with councils, and having two authorities to deal with can mean a significant addition to their workload. Neighbouring towns and cities can also find themselves in competition for resources, such as government grants.
However, the new legislation is designed to ensure boundary changes go ahead even if sitting MPs disapprove of the proposals. It follows two recent reviews that came to nothing.
A review of boundaries in 2013, which cost £7 million, was halted after the Government abandoned plans to reform the House of Lords. Liberal Democrats, who were members of a Coalition government with the Tories, backed Lords reform and said that if it wasn't happening then they were no longer prepared to support constituency changes.
The next review, which cost an £8 million, delivered its findings to Theresa May in September 2018.
Mrs May, with no majority in the Commons and struggling to deliver Brexit, made no attempt to put the proposed changes into effect.
Things must be different next time, according to Dudley South MP Mike Wood (Con).
Speaking in the House of Commons, he told fellow MPs: “One of the very few upsides of this horrific outbreak and lockdown has been the opportunity to spend a little more time helping my children with their schoolwork at home.
“My daughter is in year 7 and she is studying the People's Charter of 1838 ... which includes the campaign for constituencies based on equal numbers of electors.”
He said it was wrong to ignore the importance of equalising the number of electors in each constituency.
“It was not the right way in the 19th century and it is certainly not the right way in a 21st century democracy.”
The Bill scraps the findings of the last review of constituencies, which took place in 2018