The Truth Behind The Parliamentary Boundary Changes
Usually, the way MPs are elected is decided on a ‘consensual’ basis between all political parties. This was certainly the case when Labour was in power. But now things are different, very different. Under the newly proposed parliamentary boundaries, the Tories will have an advantage come the next General Election.
Through an Act of Parliament, the number of MPs is being reduced by 50 and all constituencies must have more or less the same number of electors. This breaks with a time honoured acceptance that Wales, as a relatively small nation, should have more MPs per head of population than England, and that ‘communities’ are just as important as numbers when it comes to deciding the size and shape of parliamentary constituencies.
The result is that on the one hand the number of Welsh MPs being reduced from 40 to 30 and the other consequence is that we have proposed in Wales huge constituencies which no longer reflect any sense of community identity. This means for example that the Boundary Commission are proposing that the constituency which I have had the honour of representing for nearly 12 years – Caerphilly – is being divided in two. One half is being linked with Cardiff North and the other half is to be part of a new seat called Newport West and Sirhowy Valley. This seat will stretch from Aberbargoed in the north to the Bristol Channel in the south.
The political result of all of this is that the proposed changes will help the Conservative Party. To be frank, the changes are not as advantageous to the Tories as they were hoping but nevertheless they are to their advantage. It is a sad day for democracy when ‘gerrymandering’ is the motivation behind constitutional and electoral change.
Wayne David
Labour MP for Caerphilly
I agree with Wayne David's remarks, as I have commented previously the Tory government aims to gain advantage through these boundary changes. This is not, as many think, because they expect to take one of the Caerffili seat, but because the reduction in Welsh representation at Westminster will lead to the Tories winning a greater proportion of seats overall.
One thing that Wayne did not touch on was that devolution had a part to play in this process. We Welsh cannot expect to have the same representation in Westminster when we have our own little parliament in Cardiff. This is just the start of a process of easing the Welsh out of mainstream politics in the UK.
What dooes Richard mean about easing the Welsh out of mainstream politics in the UK, they always have been out of mainstream politics, Labour ignores them because they vote Labour and the Conservatives ignore them because they vote Labour, no change there then.
I do understand John Owen's argument, which has a venerable basis in the historical facts of our relationship with England. But, a fairly recent leader of the Labour Party and an even more recent leader of the Tories were both Welshmen. This will probably not happen in future as Wales and its politicians become more and more irrelevant to the Westminster centre of power.
My arguement does not havea venerable basis in the historical facts of our relationship with England. The Labour Party was founded as Britsh party, and in south Wales many of the early leaders were English migrants into the coalfield and Wales was merely somewhere they worked. In many cases the industrial problems of south Wales in the 1930s were seen by the Labour Party as a British regional problem, rather a Welsh national one, and the arguement for that position is strong. Nothing has been done to solve the economic problems of south Wales which is why there is such a high level of un and underemployment, anfd teh GDP of Wales is 74% of the UK average compared to 171% in the south east of England.The only thing Labour MPs are concerned about is their seats and most from Aneurin Bevan to Lord Kinnock soon become part of teh Establishment and find it more comfortable to live over the border.