DISPUTE OVER CONSTITUENCY BOUNDARIES LOOMS
MPs are beginning to fret about the future of Britain’s political map as they prepare to return to Westminster at the end of the summer break. Early next month new proposals for overhauling the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies are set be unveiled.
Dozens of constituencies are set to disappear in mergers and boundary changes in the shake-up, which seeks to reduce the number of Commons seats from 650 to 600. “A lot of people in Westminster are even more worried about boundaries than they are about Brexit,” said one senior MP. New maps will be proposed by the boundary commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The issue is likely to come to a crunch Commons vote this autumn.
Senior Tories are hopeful that after seven years of failed attempts to update the map the Government can get enough support for the proposals.
The shake-up seeks to create constituencies of broadly equal populations. It is expected to reduce the number of small, metropolitan constituencies that is thought to give Labour an advantage worth about 20 seats. Tory insiders are hopeful that Mrs May’s allies in the Democratic Unionist Party, previously opposed to boundary reviews that threatened their parliamentary numbers, are coming round to supporting any change that reduces the chances of Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister at the next election. Their support could be enough to push the measure through the Commons.
Labour MPs are expected to oppose the shake-up. The party’s hard-Left leader is likely to be among those MPs affected. In the most recent draft proposals, his Islington North constituency was set to be merged with Islington South, represented by his shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry. In an already bitterly divided party, the boundary issue means a fight for political survival for many MPs.
Some Labour sources are already bleating that the shake-up, being carried out by independent commissions, is a supposed Tory plot to rig the next election. The stage is set for a battle over boundaries that could get just as toxic as the Brexit debate.