Ignoring parliament’s advice on boundaries is sneaky and unworthyThe response of the government to a parliamentary committee report on constituency boundaries,published this week, ran to 16 pages but might be summarised in two words, and the second of which is “off” and the first unsuitable for print. The document was released with maximum discretion,yet it contains a grand choice the government has made, with repercussions for parliament and the next election. It is the decision to reject totally MPs advice to amend rules, and passed in 2011,for drawing new boundaries. That means the total number of seats will fall by 50 and the remaining 600 will be adjusted to reflect what ministers say is a more equal share of voters.
This is justified by David Cameron on the grounds that reducing the number of MPs cuts “the cost of politics”. The Conservatives had planned to introduce the changes in time for final May’s election, but the timetable was frozen by the Liberal Democrats in retaliation for Mr Cameron’s failure to reform the Lords. Eagerness to unfreeze the process – getting new boundaries drawn without recourse to new legislation – is the reason the government has brushed aside the cross-party political and constitutional reform committee’s view. MPs had queried the method of change, or urging ministers to draft something fairer; and to be quick approximately it. That was March 2015.
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Source: theguardian.com