Number of our MPs unaffected as PM shelves constituencies revamp

PLANS TO cut the number of Yorkshire MPs by four are expected to be axed, the latest victim of Theresa May’s calamitous general election result.

The Prime Minister is expected to shelve longstanding proposals to reduce the size of the Commons.

The reform was intended to save £50m over five years and equalise the number of voters in each constituency.

It would have seen the number of MPs overall cut from the current 650 to 600.

In Yorkshire, the result would have been the loss of four MPs and the significant redrawing of some constituency boundaries.

Only three seats across Yorkshire - Beverley and Holderness, East Yorkshire and Elmet and Rothwell - were due to be left untouched.

One of the most radical changes, which prompted widespread derision, would have been the disappearance of the Penistone and Stocksbridge constituency and the creation of a new Sheffield and Stocksbridge constituency stretching from the south of Sheffield to west of Barnsley.

Significant changes would also have been made in Hull with the introduction of a Hull Central constituency and the merger of Hull West with parts of Haltemprice and Howden.

Changes to constituency boundaries were supposed to be pushed through by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition.

However, then deputy prime minister Nick Clegg vetoed the move in response to the refusal of Conservative MPs to back proposals for Lords reform.

They remained shelved after the 2015 general election with David Cameron nursing a small majority and fighting the EU referendum.

Mrs May is now reported to have decided the boundary changes should remain on ice because she is unconvinced MPs would vote them through.

Experts have suggested the changes would make it easier for the Conservatives to win future elections making opposition support unlikely.

And the anger of individual Conservative MPs over losing their seat would likely sway more votes in the Commons than the overall advantage to the party.