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Tuesday 13 January 2009

Finally David Cameron shows he understands the bias inherent in the UK electoral system

This is a subject that I have been "banging-on" about for years and finally David Cameron seems to be of a like mind. The article reports that:
"The Tory leader announced plans to abolish undersized parliamentary constituencies in Wales and some cities, including London, most held by Labour.

It would mean fewer MPs overall but Mr Cameron told the FT: "I think the House of Commons could do the job that it does with 10 per cent fewer MPs without any trouble at all."

At present the election map disadvantages the Conservatives because voters have flown from urban areas where Labour is stronger to the shires where the Tories are strongest, resulting in small urban seats that give Labour more MPs.

"We can legislate for that, yes, and we should," he said. "I believe in having seats that are the same size all across the country.""

1 comment:

Crushed said...

Western Isles still has a quarter of the electorate of the Isle of Wight...

It's difficult to have totally uniform constituencies due to the need to follow county boundaries and other factors. Some counties, like Herefordshire are entitled to about 1.7 MPs under a strict proportionality.

STV would alleviate part of the problem, I think.