The current parliamentary constituency boundaries are based on out of date census data which means that there are huge variations in the number of constituents in a constituency.
From one extreme to another, the constituency of Arfon in Wales had only 40,492 constituents in the 2015 General Election whereas Ilford South, a London constituency, had 91,987 constituents in the same election. Yet each constituency elected one MP.
The new proposals will also reduce the amount of MPs from 650 to 600. I know a number of my constituents agree with me that the financial burden of politics on the taxpayer is too high and these proposals will reduce the money being spent on Parliamentarians so that more can be spent on crucial public services such as the NHS.
These new proposals, drawn up by the independent and non-political Boundary Commission, will mean that every constituency in the country will have between 71,031 and 78,507 constituents, making the system fairer. By making constituencies roughly the same in terms of population, it will mean that each person’s vote will be worth the same, a concept of equal sized constituencies which was originally a demand of the Chartists in 1838! (Island constituencies such as the Isle of Wight and some remote places in Northern Scotland will remain special cases for geographical reasons.)
My own constituency, Northampton North, will expand into areas of the current Northampton South under the Boundary Commission’s proposals, and I would be more than happy to welcome more people to my constituency. These proposals are about making the system fairer and also about reducing the cost of politics; therefore, I fully support these proposals in their current form.