Wednesday 2 June 2010

Crossing the line

One potential consequence of the coalition government's enthusiasm for another review of Parliamentary boundaries is that it might pose a threat to Cornwall's exclusive ownership of its own constituencies.

The basic idea is laudable - every Parliamentary constituency should contain, as far as possible, the same number of voters. The Boundary Commission routinely changes the map as it tries to keep up with an electorate that likes to move house.

Recent trends have seen upwardly-mobile voters moving out of relatively deprived inner-city areas to the leafy green countryside. One consequence has been that Conservative and Liberal Democrat constituencies tend to be larger than Labour ones - which is one reason why Labour got more MPs than its general election vote share implied.

The drive to make all UK constituencies contain the same number of voters has unusual implications for Cornwall, particularly the South East Cornwall constituency. We don't yet know the detail, but if the aim is to reduce the number of constituencies, while moving some voters into city seats, there is clearly the potential for something like "Plymouth & Saltash."

There could be trouble ahead....

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