Boundary changes plan puts MP’s seat at risk
A shake-up of parliamentary seats could see the disappearance of Faversham and Mid Kent and changes to other Kent constituencies.
The seat held by the Conservative MP Helen Whately and formerly by sports minister Hugh Roberston is set to be scrapped under a boundary review.
Faversham and Mid Kent is one of a number of constituencies earmarked to go in the review aimed at curbing the number of MPs to cut costs.
Proposals include a more compact Maidstone constituency (currently represented by Helen Grant) featuring the town, Barming, Bearsted and Otham.
The Tonbridge and Malling seat (currently held by Tom Tugendhat) has nine wards and will take four more from Maidstone and seven from Faversham and Mid Kent. It will be renamed Tonbridge and The Weald.
Chatham and Aylesford (whose MP is Tracey Crouch) would be renamed Chatham and the Mall- ings to reflect the addition of four wards from Tonbridge and Malling. It will include East and West Malling.
In the Weald, Tunbridge Wells (currently held by Greg Clark) will consist of 16 existing wards, plus five Sevenoaks wards from the current Tonbridge and Malling seat, including Edenbridge.
A new seat to be called High Weald will straddle East Sussex and Kent and be partly created by taking seven wards from Ashford and absorbing Tenterden and Biddenden.
Helen Whately said: “It’s sad the draft proposals would split up the Faversham and Mid Kent constituency, but the rationale is to make all constituencies a similar size, so each person’s vote carries the same weight.”
In other areas a new Canterbury and Faversham seat would include six wards from the current Faversham and Mid Kent seat, and a new seat would be created in Thanet.
Nationally, the number of MPs would be cut from 533 to 501 in England, from 40 to 29 in Wales, from 59 to 53 in Scotland and from 18 to 17 in Northern Ireland.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex-chancellor George Osborne also face their seats being abolished.
A public consultation will take place and a final decision will be made in 2018.