Beorn
09-11-2009, 11:14 PM
David Cameron has vowed to cut the number of Scottish MPs by 10%, if he wins power at the General Election.
The Conservative leader announced the proposals as part of a raft of measures that includes pledging to cut ministerial pay and end MPs’ subsidised food and drink if he gets into power.
Mr Cameron said he would require the Boundary Commission to set out detailed plans to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 585, saving an estimated £15.5m a year.
In Scotland, this would mean a cut from 59 MPs to 53 with the probable creation of super-constituencies covering large swathes of the country.
Last night John Robertson, Labour MP for Glasgow North West, criticised the move as an attempt to negate the party’s electoral unpopularity north of the border.
He told The Herald: “It’s a numbers game he is playing to make sure the big English vote outweighs the Scots and the Welsh.
“It is another nail in the Conservative coffin in Scotland. I would fight this the best I could.
“If they were to win an election with a majority then they could bring it through if they wanted, but I think he might hit a lot of obstacles within his own party.”
Alistair Carmichael, LibDem MP for Orkney & Shetland, said: “It will make vast chunks of the Highlands and Islands, and remoter parts of Scotland virtually unrepresentable. It is already difficult with constituencies like my own and the Western Isles. What David Cameron wants to do is build constituencies around numbers and numbers alone, and that’s got to be bad news [for democracy].”
Source (http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/cameron-calls-for-10-cut-in-number-of-scots-mps-1.918637)
Drastic action here, Mr Cameron. All you need do is simply allocate the English their own parliament (at least) and the amount of Scottish MPs with direct powers over the English, and the problems their presence afflicts upon English nationalists would ease considerably.
The Conservative leader announced the proposals as part of a raft of measures that includes pledging to cut ministerial pay and end MPs’ subsidised food and drink if he gets into power.
Mr Cameron said he would require the Boundary Commission to set out detailed plans to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 585, saving an estimated £15.5m a year.
In Scotland, this would mean a cut from 59 MPs to 53 with the probable creation of super-constituencies covering large swathes of the country.
Last night John Robertson, Labour MP for Glasgow North West, criticised the move as an attempt to negate the party’s electoral unpopularity north of the border.
He told The Herald: “It’s a numbers game he is playing to make sure the big English vote outweighs the Scots and the Welsh.
“It is another nail in the Conservative coffin in Scotland. I would fight this the best I could.
“If they were to win an election with a majority then they could bring it through if they wanted, but I think he might hit a lot of obstacles within his own party.”
Alistair Carmichael, LibDem MP for Orkney & Shetland, said: “It will make vast chunks of the Highlands and Islands, and remoter parts of Scotland virtually unrepresentable. It is already difficult with constituencies like my own and the Western Isles. What David Cameron wants to do is build constituencies around numbers and numbers alone, and that’s got to be bad news [for democracy].”
Source (http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/cameron-calls-for-10-cut-in-number-of-scots-mps-1.918637)
Drastic action here, Mr Cameron. All you need do is simply allocate the English their own parliament (at least) and the amount of Scottish MPs with direct powers over the English, and the problems their presence afflicts upon English nationalists would ease considerably.