Minister joins seats shake-up row

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles waded into the row over the re-drawing of the region’s political map amid growing fury from MPs who claim traditional communities are being torn apart.

Angry Tory MPs met last night to discuss the review of constituencies, which has been carried out by the independent Boundary Commission in order to meet the Government’s plan to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600 and make all seats a similar size.

With four seats being axed in Yorkshire and the Humber, some MPs are wondering where they might be able to stand at the next election. The disappearance of two seats in East Yorkshire has left former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis facing a fight against neighbouring MP Andrew Percy to win the Tory nomination for a new constituency which will combine large parts of their existing seats.

Labour also declared war on the proposals yesterday, saying there was “pointless disruption” in some regions and the recommendations needed “common sense” put back into them.

There is now a consultation period with several public hearings before a revised plan is unveiled. That will still have to be approved by Parliament, but Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude warned it would be “eccentric” for any critics to try to vote it down in the House of Commons.

Mr Pickles’ intervention marks the strongest criticism from a Cabinet Minister of the proposed new constituencies. Other Ministers have steered clear from commenting, because the Boundary Commission was given strict rules from the Government about how constituencies could be re-drawn.

Mr Pickles said: “I haven’t made any assessment in terms of what it’s eventually going to look like but I’ve seen some very peculiar decisions, particularly in Yorkshire.

“I think there’s a good sense in trying to get constituencies of equal size. That doesn’t mean to say the first go they’ve had is the right one.”

Mr Pickles, a former Bradford Council leader, pointed to the decision to include the Worth Valley ward in the Calder Valley constituency: “Anybody wanting to get into Calder Valley from Keighley, unless they’re prepared to walk onto the moors, faces a very long distance indeed.”

Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart said he was shocked by the proposed changes, adding that he was “strongly opposed” to including the town of Hedon in a largely urban constituency around the city of Hull.

Chris Bryant MP, Shadow Political and Constitutional Reform Minister, blamed “flawed legislation” which Labour believes is designed to give the Tories an electoral advantage.

“There has been pointless disruption in some regions, leading to the unnecessary division of traditional communities and making MPs more remote from the communities they serve, not closer. The task now is to inject some common sense back into many of these recommendations,” he said.

Yvette Cooper, whose Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford seat is being divided between two new constituencies, said: “For our area, Castleford is being taken out of the Five Towns and linked with Selby in North Yorkshire, while Pontefract, Normanton and Knottingley will be joined by a part of Wakefield.

“These changes will be expensive to make and highly disruptive and breaking local ties will cause a lot of anger and concern.”