Changes to shake-up on MPs’ seats revealed but Clegg stays defiant

The Boundary Commission for England yesterday published updated versions of its plans to cut the number of MPs from 660 to 600, as set out in the coalition agreement.

The revised plan would still see Yorkshire and the Humber lose four of its 54 MPs as before, but the way in which the constituencies are divided – crucial to deciding which seats are deemed safe and which marginal – have been drastically altered.

Under the new proposals, Mr Clegg would see his current constituency name incorporated into the new seat of Sheffield Hallam and Penistone, although it covers the same area as in last year’s original report by the Boundary Commission.

Plans to create a new Rawmarsh seat in South Yorkshire have been scrapped following local concern, with the seat to be named North Rotherham instead.

And changes in Leeds leave two potentially safe Labour seats at Leeds South East and Castleford, and Leeds Metropolitan and Ossett, meaning Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls – whose current Elmet and Rothwell seat is a marginal – could be handed a safe power base without having a selection battle with his senior Labour colleague Hilary Benn, the MP for Leeds Central.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Mr Clegg made clear again yesterday that the proposals are effectively academic, as they will be vetoed by Liberal Democrat MPs when brought before Parliament next year in response to the Conservative Party’s failure to back House of Lords reform.

Speaking in the Commons, he said: “We are not going to introduce the changes ahead of the general election in 2015.”

Justifying his party’s stance to outraged Tory MPs, he added: “When one party does not abide by a certain part of that deal, it’s perfectly legitimate for the other party to say it will amend the terms of that deal. That is the meaning of coalition politics.”