Region's MPs may have to tusslefor seats

PLANS to reform the voting system could spark a frantic scramble for seats among Yorkshire MPs as several existing constituencies are axed.

The number of seats in the region is likely to be cut by at least three under coalition plans to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 in a move Ministers hope will restore trust in parliament and reduce costs.

One Liberal Democrat backbencher has warned the radical redrawing of the political map will create “chaos”, and it also threatens to leave sitting MPs fighting each other to find a constituency to stand for at the next General Election.

The plans to cut the number of constituencies – and make them all roughly the same size, covering 76,000 voters – are part of a package of electoral reforms which also includes a referendum on whether to scrap the first-past-the-post voting system in favour of the Alternative Vote, where candidates are ranked in order of preference.

The proposals passed their latest hurdle in the House of Commons on Monday but received a mixed reception, with Labour opposed to linking together the referendum and boundary changes and many Conservative backbenchers opposed to holding the referendum on the same day as Scottish, Welsh and local council elections next May.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the Sheffield Hallam MP who is spearheading the reforms, said the shake-up of constituencies would “help bolster the legitimacy of parliamentary elections”, but many MPs are privately trying to calculate what impact the measure would have on them.

Smaller boundary changes at the last election caused several battles, with former Ryedale MP John Greenway quitting after Vale of York’s Anne McIntosh won the selection for the new Thirsk and Malton seat when their constituencies were altered, and there was controversy when Shadow Schools Secretary Ed Balls was selected as Labour’s candidate for Morley and Outwood over former Rothwell MP Colin Challen.

Whereas some Tory candidates in key marginal seats at this year’s election were selected as long ago as 2006, parties will have to leave selection for the next election on hold until seeing whether the reforms are passed – and then wait until the Boundary Commission draws up the new boundaries.

Experts predict the 53 seats currently making up Yorkshire and the Humber will be cut to 50, with few constituencies likely to survive in their current form.

Only 17 constituencies in the Yorkshire Post area currently fit the criteria of being within five per cent of the 76,000 electorate.

In Leeds, for example, Leeds East and Leeds North West constituencies both have fewer than 65,000 registered voters – 11,000 below the new target. Leeds North East and Leeds West both have fewer than 68,000.

In contrast, Shadow Environment Secretary Hilary Benn’s Leeds Central constituency is likely to be made smaller as it has 79,696 registered voters.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Leeds North West Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland spoke out against the proposals, warning boundary shake-ups result in “chaos” for candidates and constituents.

“I made it clear during the previous election campaign that I opposed the measure in the Liberal Democrat manifesto to reduce the number of MPs,” he said. “I made no bones about that.

“Some bogus comparisons have been made with larger countries with fewer MPs. We are not comparing like with like. There are different systems, often with list MPs, who simply do not do the same job.”

Labour backbencher Austin Mitchell, the Grimsby MP, said MPs had a vital democratic role. As representatives of the people, MPs protected them against the Executive and were the voice of their constituencies.

“We cannot do our work effectively if the number of MPs is reduced,” he added.

David Davis: Page 13.