All over bar the counting?

I have considerable respect for the Electoral Reform Society, but I suspect it might have poked a hornets' nest with its announcement of a "Safe Parliament" with MPs who are invulnerable to any change in the voters' mood.

The society has listed those constituencies in which it thinks it knows the names of the winners because their seats are so safe. In Cornwall, these include Camborne & Redruth and St Ives.

The ERS says Liberal Democrats Julia Goldsworthy and Andrew George

"form a class of MPs that are, quite simply, elected for life."

This might come as a pleasant surprise to Ms Goldsworthy and Mr George, who are probably not yet inclined to pack away their campaign posters and rosettes.

The ERS goes on to list Cornwall's four remaining constituencies as "Liberal Democrat marginals" - despite the fact that three of them are new seats created by major boundary changes.

You can download the ERS spreadsheet here [200KB Excel file].

The society does not detail its methodology and, of course, the whole story is designed to promote the ERS flagship policy of proportional representation.