Battle lines drawn for cull of Commons seats

WALES TO LOSE QUARTER OF ITS MPS

CHANGES to North Wales Parliamentary boundaries could create a free-for-all among MPs, if the number of constituencies is slashed by more than a third as proposed on Monday.

Overall Wales could lose a quarter of its MPs if the plans are adopted, reducing the number in Westminster from 40 down to 29 - with the Commons as a whole cut from 650 to 600.

In North Wales the cut would go even deeper, with four out of 11 MPs set to lose out.

■ Parts of Aberconwy and Clwyd West would form one, new coastal constituency called Colwyn and Conwy, with inland areas of the current seats merging into a new ‘ superconstituency’ called North Clwyd and Gwynedd.

■ Along the coastal strip some of the Vale of Clwyd seat would merge with much of the Delyn area to form Flint and Rhuddlan, while a chunk of Delyn would bolster the Alyn and Deeside constituency.

■ Half of the current Arfon seat would merge into the new Isle of Anglesey and Arfon battleground, with the remainder joining North Clwyd and Gwynedd.

■ Part of Clwyd South would merge with Wrexham to create the new Wrexham Maelor with the rest of it being added to the new South Clwyd and North Montgomeryshire seat.

The proposals by the Boundary Commission go out to a 12 week public consultation from today, with a series of roadshow events planned across Wales in October and early November.

The final proposals on the changes will be submitted by October 2018.

The Government asked for the review on the basis the average electorate in Welsh constituencies is well down on the minimum required under the new rules of a little more than 71,000.

The average number of voters in current Parliamentary seats in Wales is 54,546.

David Hanson MP, the Labour member for Delyn, said: “The key thing is the Government are reducing constituencies from 40 to 29 in Wales and from 650 to 600 in the UK, when they are doing nothing about hereditary peers.

“It’s not acceptable for the elected house to be reduced when the unelected house is increasing.”

Anglesey Labour MP Albert Owen said: “I think it’s a bad day for democracy... A reforming Government should sort out the House of Lords in the first place...

“This is just an exercise that Cameron – who is now leaving us – put through.”

He added: “North Wales is losing out... It’s a bit of a dog’s dinner.”

Arfon Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said the moves could only be justified if the Assembly gained major new powers.

He said: “While in principle we’re supportive of efforts to cut the number of MPs, Wales should not disproportionately lose out. As it stands, Welsh powers are far weaker than those of both Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“Westminster is still responsible for major areas of policy affecting Wales and our nation will have less of a voice if these proposals go through...

“Wales is being silenced by Westminster and unless it is balanced by delivering a meaningful transfer of responsibility back to Wales, we will oppose these changes.”

Clwyd South Labour MP Susan Elan Jones also said it was “extraordinary” it was proposed that the number of MPs would go down when peers were being added to the House of Lords Conservative party chairman Patrick McLoughlin defended the plans to reduce the number of MPs, saying: “Boundaries should be drawn up in an impartial and independent way so I welcome the Boundary Commission’s proposals to implement Parliament’s instruction to ensure equally-sized constituencies.

“Without these reforms, MPs could end up representing constituencies based on data that is over 20 years old.”