Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill - an end to Devonwall in sight?

I am pleased that the Parliamentary Constituencies (Amendment) Bill has today passed its latest hurdle in the House of Commons, when it was read for a second time.

It seeks to amend the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 “to make provision about the number and size of parliamentary constituencies in the United Kingdom; and for connected purposes.”

In particular, it specifies that the number of UK constituencies should 650 and that “the electorate of any constituency in Great Britain shall be (a) no less than 92.5% of the Great Britain electoral quota, and (b) no more than 107.5% of that quota.

If this Bill makes it into legislation it will end the present Boundary Review that is seeking to reduce the number of MPs to 600 and would create an unpopular cross-Tamar parliamentary constituency.

Today’s division was 229 votes in favour of the Bill and 44 against.

Three Conservatives voted with the opposition and in favour of the Bill. Only one of Cornwall’s six Tory MPs took part in the vote, with George Eustice voting against the Bill.

It is very disappointing that he and his colleagues did not use the opportunity to vote against Devonwall.