After nine years of work, seat shake-up plan to be scrapped

PLANS which would have meant Tarleton, Banks and Hesketh Bank incorporated into the Southport constituency have been axed after years of preparation.

The Government is set to abandon Coalition-era plans which would have radically redrawn Parliamentary boundaries in order to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600.

The changes were being imposed to ensure that each MP represented a similar number of constituents.

Proposals that were published in 2018 by the independent Boundary Commission recommended scrapping 32 seats in England, six in Scotland, 11 in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.

That would have meant increasing the size of the Southport constituency and the final proposals would have meant the Hesketh-with-Becconsall, North Meols, and Tarleton wards all being taken in from West Lancashire.

Southport MP Damien Moore had welcomed the proposals, which were selected in preference to an alternative plan of taking in areas of Formby, and said the move would have brought the town closer to Lancashire than Bootle and Crosby.

But, after about nine years of preparation, debate and delays, the plans are set to be scrapped as officials fear the increased workload for Parliament caused by Brexit.

In a written statement, Cabinet Office minister Chloe Smith said: “Legislation currently provides that, on implementation of the 2018 Boundary Review recommendations, the number of constituencies in the UK shall be 600.

“The Government is minded to instead make provision for the number of Parliamentary constituencies to remain at 650.

“In doing so, we would also remove the statutory obligation to implement the 2018 Boundary Review recommendations and the statutory obligation on the Government to make arrangements to review the reduction in constituencies to 600 by November 30, 2020.” She added: “The UK Parliament will have a greater workload now we are taking back control and regaining our political and economic independence. It is therefore sensible for the number of Parliamentary constituencies to remain at 650.”