At-risk Tories ‘offered peerages’ for backing plan to ditch 50 MPs
TORY Party chiefs are expected to hand out peerages in a desperate attempt to avoid a mutiny over plans to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600.
Under the proposed shake-up of constituency boundaries revealed yesterday, the Conservatives would have won an overall majority of 16 at the last election instead of being eight seats short.
However, many senior MPs would see their seats abolished, including Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey and former Cabinet ministers David Davis, Priti Patel and Kenneth Clarke.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington North constituency would also be axed, while Boris Johnson faces a reduced majority in Uxbridge and Ruislip South.
Last night, No10 refused to commit to holding a Commons vote on the changes before Christmas amid warnings that dozens of Tory backbenchers could join Labour in pledging to oppose them.
Ministers said the proposals would give every MP roughly the same number of constituents to ensure there was ‘fair and equal’ representation for voters.
But Sir Bernard Jenkin, Tory chairman of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, warned it was ‘highly unlikely’ that MPs would approve of fewer constituencies.
Tory MP Michael Fabricant branded plans to cut his Lichfield constituency down the middle as ‘crazy’, adding: ‘The new map looks like the Battle of the Bulge and is daft.’ Steve Double, a Tory MP in Cornwall, said he would not support proposals that include a ‘cross-border seat with Devon’. Another Tory whose constituency could be axed said: ‘MPs are not happy, this will go nowhere.’
The Tories have promised MPs who face losing their seats that ‘no colleague will be left behind’, suggesting they will either be given the seat of a retiring MP or be elevated to the Lords.
Tory officials refused to comment on whether peerages would be offered to win support for the changes, but a minister said: ‘It is the only way to make the maths work.’ However, critics warned against offering MPs peerages to persuade them to vacate seats.
Darren Hughes, of the Electoral Reform Society, said: ‘Cutting elected MPs while continuing to pack the unelected House of Lords with party cronies is an insult to democracy. Scrap this ill-advised cut in backbenchers.’
The map was drawn up by the UK’s four boundary commissions.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said last night: ‘These reforms will ensure there is fair and equal representation for voters across the UK. They have been drawn up by an independent boundary commission and that follows extensive consultation.’
Sam Hartley, of the Boundary Commission for England, said: ‘We’ve travelled the country, taken account of over 35,000 public comments and heard impassioned views about how best to reflect communities in our recommendations, while ensuring constituencies are more equally represented.
‘We’re confident that the map we propose is the best match of the rules Parliament has set us. It’s up to Parliament to decide whether these boundaries will be used at the next general election.’
‘The only way to make the maths work’