The leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council has criticised proposed changes to Parliamentary boundaries in the area.
Councillor Allan Pritchard, who is also Plaid Cymru’s party chairman in Islwyn, said: “Once again these London-based parties are riding roughshod over the valleys of South Wales.
“Their ruthless proposals will cut the heart out of the Islwyn Westminster constituency by incorporating the present wards of Newbridge, Crumlin, Penmaen, Blackwood, Cefn Fforest and Argoed into the Blaenau Gwent Parliamentary constituency. Thereby, erasing the proud name of Islwyn from the political map of Wales forever.
“Plaid Cymru in Islwyn has vowed to fight these ill-thought changes and will oppose the re-drawing of the constituency boundaries that will consign Islwyn to the trash can.”
The Boundary Commission for Wales has proposed cutting the number of Welsh MPs’ seats from 40 to 30, with the names and sizes of constituencies being changed.
The proposals are part of a UK-wide overhaul to cut the total number of MPs to 600 from 650.
Caerphilly, currently represented by Labour’s Wayne David would mostly be merged into Cardiff North to create Caerphilly and Cardiff North, while Islwyn, currently held by Labour’s Chris Evans, would be split in two and merged with neighbouring constituencies of Newport West and Blaenau Gwent.
Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney would largely remain intact, but have the addition of some wards from the Rhondda Cynon Taf area.
At a recent meeting of Islwyn’s Plaid Cymru Group its secretary Cllr Carol Erasmus said: “To incorporate half of Islwyn into the proposed Newport West and Sirhowy Valley constituency just goes to show how far removed this London Government is from reality.
“In fact, part of the new constituency will not just cover Newport West and the Sirhowy Valley but also parts of the Ebbw and Rhymney Valleys as far north as Bargoed and as far west as Nelson.”
Read our full report on the proposed Parliamentary changes for Islwyn and Caerphilly.