Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies

[AlterEgo]

Plus the DUP dont like the changes either.

Neither do Sinn Fein, who have (rightly) complained that the review was using data from electoral registers rather than the latest census. (See @DynamicSpirit above for more detail on that)

 

[Tetchytyke]

That infers that the boundary commission is corrupt.
The purpose of the change is to equalise (as far as possible) the number of voters per constituency, surely a laudable democratic aim.
I presume if the changes had benefited Labour there would have been equal objections to their implementation?

The Boundary Commission are doing what they are told.

"Equalizing constituency size" sounds a laudable aim, but the devil is in the detail. The gerrymandering takes place when deciding which electoral wards go into which seat. Some of the contortions are...strange. Look at the proposals in the Durham Dales, with rural Gateshead being in the same constituency as Barnard Castle 50 miles away. Why do we think that the wealthy bit of Gateshead would be moved out of the Gateshead constituencies?

And that's before we consider the changes to electoral registration that just, as a pure coincidence, saw poorer people and students (who tend to vote Labour) drop off the register.

If Labour were committing such a blatant and abusive act of gerrymandering I'd be criticising them too. But Labour, even with the enormous majorities under Blair, didn't. Gerrymandering is a Tory thing.

 

[greatkingrat]

"Equalizing constituency size" sounds a laudable aim, but the devil is in the detail. The gerrymandering takes place when deciding which electoral wards go into which seat. Some of the contortions are...strange. Look at the proposals in the Durham Dales, with rural Gateshead being in the same constituency as Barnard Castle 50 miles away. Why do we think that the wealthy bit of Gateshead would be moved out of the Gateshead constituencies?

That is the Boundary Commission not knowing what it is doing, not gerrymandering. All the seats in Gateshead and Durham will be safe Labour anyway however you draw the boundaries.

Anyway, those were the initial proposals, they have been changed in the revised proposals just released.

 

[overthewater]

What is happening with this?

 

[HSTEd]

What is happening with this?

The proposals will be dead on arrival in the commons, so it is likely the Government will avoid the embarrasment of being beaten by simply not moving a Statutary Instrument to implement.

So nothing will happen.

 

[overthewater]

I did ask my local mp and it seems we the public are supposed to contact the body and tell them it shove it basicly , then the MPs will just swept it under the carpart.

 

[adrock1976]

Scotland currently has a disproportional influence in the house of commons, which especially considering the differences in the political landscape is undemocratic and shouldn't be allowed to continue.

Let's give you a rundown of the Scotland results for every General Election from 1979 onwards:

1979: Mainly Labour - got Conservatives
1983: Mainly Labour - got Conservatives
1987: Mainly Labour - got Conservatives
1992: Mainly Labour - got Conservatives (only just, due to a swing late in the day)
1997: Mainly Labour - got New Labour (they were not new, and they were most certainly not Labour)
2001: Mainly Labour - got New Labour (they were not new, and they were most certainly not Labour)
2005: Mainly Labour - got New Labour (they were not new, and they were most certainly not Labour)
2010: Mainly Labour - got Conservative-Lib Dem coalition (with the exception of my constituency of Glasgow North East as that was neutral due to it being the former Speaker Michael Martin as the MP and the only one to change hands, all of the other 58 constituencies were exactly the same as the 2005 General Election. This sent a message to David Cameron that he had no mandate in imposing cuts on Scotland)
2015: Unanimously SNP (56 out of 59 constituencies) - got Conservatives (only just, due to errors in polling methods)
2017: Mainly SNP (albeit reduced) - got Conservative with a little help from the DUP

Since 1979, there has been a democratic deficit in Scotland for General Elections in that Scotland has not had the government that it has voted for.

Also, something that should be done away with is the need to pledge allegiance to the monarchy, as it is the constituents who vote MPs into office. The allegiance should be made to the people who reside in the constituency.

 

[adrock1976]

The Boundary Commission are doing what they are told.

"Equalizing constituency size" sounds a laudable aim, but the devil is in the detail. The gerrymandering takes place when deciding which electoral wards go into which seat. Some of the contortions are...strange. Look at the proposals in the Durham Dales, with rural Gateshead being in the same constituency as Barnard Castle 50 miles away. Why do we think that the wealthy bit of Gateshead would be moved out of the Gateshead constituencies?

And that's before we consider the changes to electoral registration that just, as a pure coincidence, saw poorer people and students (who tend to vote Labour) drop off the register.

If Labour were committing such a blatant and abusive act of gerrymandering I'd be criticising them too. But Labour, even with the enormous majorities under Blair, didn't. Gerrymandering is a Tory thing.

In my original neck of the woods in the West Midlands, the town of Dudley will be split into 2 (according to the local rag the Dudley News)with one of the council wards transferring to Sandwell. Before 1974, the towns that make up Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council were historically part of Staffordshire, with the towns in Dudley MBC of Dudley, Stourbridge, and Halesowen being in Worcestershire. Needless to say, the residents of the affected ward which would transfer to Sandwell constituency are unhappy about it.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I did ask my local mp and it seems we the public are supposed to contact the body and tell them it shove it basicly , then the MPs will just swept it under the carpart.

The cylinder head gasket, perchance?

 

[overthewater]

What has happened to this? Has it been whitewashed?