Tories accused of rigging boundary changes after controversial proposals revealed Labour would be hit hardest by reducing MPs by 50
Jeremy Corbyn’s own seat is being abolished in proposals to cut number of MPs in Parliament from 650 to 600
THE TORIES have been accused of rigging the boundary changes after proposals revealed Labour would be hardest hit by changes to the make-up of the House of Commons.
The leader Jeremy Corbyn’s own seat is being abolished in proposals by the boundary commission to cut the number of MPs in Parliament from 650 to 600.
A shake-up of seats in north London sees the constituency which the veteran leftie has represented since 1983 divided in two, potentially pitting him against two of his closest lieutenants.
Both shadow health secretary Diane Abbott and shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry represent neighbouring areas, sparking a race for selection as candidates for the new seats of Islington and Finsbury Park & Stoke Newington.
Mr Corbyn said he was "very unhappy" about the boundary changes, while one of his shadow cabinet members called it “an affront to democracy”.
John Ashworth said of the plans revealed yesterday: “It’s about the Tories trying to gerrymander the system to benefit themselves.”
Speaking as he arrived for a private dinner with the TUC general council in Brighton, the Labour leader said: "I look forward to representing some parts of Islington…”
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But Sam Hartley, secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, denied the Conservatives had influenced the proposals.
He told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "It's absolutely not the case. Every MP's view is worth the same as every member of the public's."
Mr Hartley said the organisation did attempt to minimise the changes caused by the review.
"That is difficult under the new rules we've been set," he added.
Meanwhile Mr Corbyn’s leadership rival Owen Smith sees his Pontypridd seat merged with the neighbouring Cynon Valley constituency of veteran backbencher Ann Clwyd.
He is one of a number of prominent critics of the hapless leftie who could face a fight to ensure selection for the 2020 election by constituency associations swollen by massed ranks of Corbynistas.
Chuka Umunna (Streatham), Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) and Tristram Hunt (Stoke-on-Trent Central) are among leading moderates facing significant changes which could leave them vulnerable to de-selection attempts by hardline Corbyn supporters.
And overall more constituencies will be abolished or merged in Labour strongholds such as London, Wales, the North-East and North-West than the Tory-dominated shires.
The big story as far as Conservative seats is the abolition of George Osborne’s Tatton constituency, while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat faces a substantial redrawing of the electoral map, but he would appear well-placed to secure the Conservative nomination for the new seat of Hillingdon and Uxbridge.
Labour has signalled it will fight the "unfair, undemocratic and unacceptable" changes, stressing they are based on an "out of date" version of the electoral register based on populations recorded in the electoral roll for 2015 and missing two million voters who signed up to vote in the EU referendum.
Mr Ashworth said: "The current proposals to redraw constituency boundaries are unfair, undemocratic and unacceptable.
“They are based on an out-of-date version of the electoral register with nearly two million voters missing.”