Tory MP Philip Dunne fumes over boundary proposals

Ludlow MP Philip Dunne has spoken out against plans that would 'dismember' his constituency as part of reforms to reduce the size of the House of Commons.

The Boundary Commission has put forward a series of recommendations for constituency boundaries which could be in place for the 2015 General Election. Its plans involved creating a Ludlow and Leominster constituency.

This would be one of the largest in the UK.

The Liberal Democrats have now proposed an alternative, which would see a number of changes to the seat, which Mr Dunne opposes.

He said: "We all knew there would be change since the Ludlow constituency is some 10,000 voters short of what each constituency requires for the next election.

"The Boundary Commission proposed splitting the Ludlow constituency in two, which was challenging enough.

"It now transpires that the LibDems have given up on the Ludlow constituency, proposing dismembering the seat completely, splitting four wards around Ludlow off to Herefordshire, three wards along the Welsh border off to Shrewsbury and the remaining wards off to a constituency straddling the Severn to the south and west of Telford."

He added: "As the LibDems made clear in their submission, they have proposed the 'necessity of major change, abolishing the historic Ludlow constituency'.

"Ludlow LibDems have clearly given up on Ludlow."

In their submission to the Boundary Commission, the Liberal Democrats say: "Our revised proposal for Shropshire produces new constituencies which reflect strong existing community ties while also being not too large to represent and where rural areas are linked either to the county capitals or to their most important local market towns."