Tory rebels tell May to scrap shake-up of MPs’ borders
‘The idea was a PR stunt’
MINISTERS last night vowed to press ahead with plans to cut the number of MPs by 50 – despite warnings that they face defeat in the Commons.
In a letter to Tory MPs, party chairman Brandon Lewis and Theresa May’s deputy David Lidington said failure to press ahead with a controversial boundary review would leave Britain with ‘the most out-of-date boundaries in modern political history’.
Tory whips have warned Mrs May that they could struggle to win the Commons vote needed to put the new boundaries in place ahead of the next election.
But in their letter last night, the two Cabinet ministers warned that leaving the borders as they are would cement the existing bias in the electoral system towards Labour.
‘Without such reforms, there will be a significant bias at the next election that will unfairly discriminate against voters in Conservative constituencies,’ they wrote. ‘The absence of fair and equal boundaries risks gerrymandering the election in favour of Jeremy Corbyn.’
But Conservative MP Peter Bone said at least ten Tories were opposed to slashing the size of the Commons ‘in principle’, with several more poised to vote against the plans due to fears about their own futures.
Mr Bone urged Mrs May to ‘think again’ and order a boundary review based on keeping the existing 650 MPs. ‘ There are a number of us opposed to this in principle,’ he said. ‘ We do not agree with the idea of reducing parliamentary scrutiny. Why should the number of MPs be cut by 50 while the size of government remains the same? All it means is there will be 50 fewer MPs to hold the Government to account. I don’t think there is any chance of getting it through and the whips know that. Instead of going down this route, the Prime Minister should think again. The idea of cutting the number of MPs was a PR stunt dreamed up by David Cameron.
‘Circumstances have changed – we are now going to have to do the work of Members of the European Parliament as well.’ The letter also promises jittery MPs that no colleague will be ‘left behind’ by the review – a reference to a pledge to find a seat for all existing MPs who want to stay on.
David Davis, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn are among the MPs whose seats face being carved up by the changes.
The Boundary Commission is due to deliver its final proposals to ministers today ahead of their publication on Monday. Tory MPs have been invited to a briefing on the details next week, ahead of a vote, which is likely to take place this autumn. The existing boundaries are based on data from the turn of the century. Demographic changes mean some constituencies have twice as many voters as others.
An assessment of the proposals by the Electoral Calculus website in July suggested the changes could be worth an extra 20 seats to the Tories at the next election. The Tory pledge to equalise the size of constituencies and cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600 has been in place since 2010. It was blocked by Nick Clegg during the Coalition government and is now under threat from the Tory rebels.
Labour will also oppose the changes. Shadow cabinet minister Cat Smith said: ‘With no plans to reduce the number of Ministers it will weaken the role of Parliament, to the advantage of the Executive...’