Shropshire Star

Boundary changes 'will undermine democracy' says MP

A Conservative MP has called for the Government to rethink its plans to reduce the number of parliamentary constituencies, warning they will fundamentally undermine democracy.

Published
Glyn Davies

Glyn Davies, MP for Montgomeryshire, said he had grave concerns about the plans to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600.

The Electoral Reform Society also voiced concerns, saying that reducing the number of backbench MPs would mean Parliament would be less able to hold the Government to account.

The Boundary Commissions for England and Wales presented the final findings of their latest review to the Government yesterday.

While the results have not yet been made public – it is up to ministers when and whether to release the proposals, and whether to put them to a parliamentary vote – it is believed that they will see Mr Davies' Montgomeryshire seat disappear in its present form.

Draft proposals, first published two years ago, were for the north of the area, including Welshpool, to be merged with Clwyd South, to form a new South Clwyd and Montgomeryshire constituency.

Meanwhile, the southern part of the constituency, including Newtown, will become part of a new Brecon, Radnor and Montgomery seat.

The Shropshire Star understands that the Boundary Commission for Wales' final proposal recommends that this should be implemented.

Mr Davies, who has held the seat since 2010, has previously said that he would not stand for parliament again if the changes went ahead.

He said he would do all he could to frustrate the changes.

"These proposals reduce the number of Wales MPs from the current 40 to 29, and carve up Montgomeryshire into small bits added on to neighbouring constituencies, destroying centuries of history and fundamentally undermining democracy in central Wales," he said. "I continue to do all I can to cause delay and a rethink of these damaging proposals."

Mr Davies said he accepted that a review of the boundaries was necessary, but said the proposals had been badly thought out.

“Populations move around, and it’s been too long since the last review of constituency boundaries," he said.

But he said the Boundary Commission was being forced to operate under restrictions which made it difficult to respect the history of the areas the constituencies served.

"It’s the cut from 650 MPs to 600 MPs which does the damage.

"I also fundamentally disagree with the restrictions imposed on Boundary Commission in framing the new boundaries.

"The current Act limits the size of constituencies within a per cent tolerance of the average (71,000 to 78,000) – allowing little discretion to make allowance for history, geography and cultural difference."

He said the Act had been framed by bureaucrats with little knowledge of what would work.

Mr Davies also said that the argument about cutting the cost of politics by reducing the number of MPs was nonsense when membership of the House of Lords had risen to about 800.

He said getting rid of MEPs when Britain leaves the EU would also save money.

"The whole fiasco was concocted in response to public outrage about the abuse of Parliamentary expenses in the past, and undermined democracy, especially in Wales," Mr Davies added.

Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said: "Cutting the number of MPs with Brexit around the corner would be like a company laying off its staff having just secured a major new contract." Mr Hughes said there were no plans to reduce the number of ministers or parliamentary private secretaries, meaning that more MPs would be forced to vote with the Government.

He said: “If the cut in the size of Parliament is not matched by a cut in the size of the government, these changes would amount to an executive power grab, with the highest ever proportion of MPs duty-bound to vote with the government."

Previous draft proposals also included extending The Wrekin constituency, held by Conservative Mark Pritchard, to include Bridgnorth, but moving Leegomery and Hadley into the Telford constituency, which Lucy Allan holds for the Tories with a wafer-thin majority of 720.

The Tory stronghold of North Shropshire, held by Owen Paterson since 1997, was unchanged, while Daniel Kawczynski's Shrewsbury & Atcham constituency would see only minor tweaks, although the draft called for Atcham to be dropped from the name.

Philip Dunne's Ludlow constituency would see major changes, losing Bridgnorth but being extended southwards to include Leominster.