20.02.18
Parliament told to vote on boundary review as soon as possible
The House of Commons should vote as soon as possible on whether to continue with the parliamentary boundary review, the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) has argued.
In its report, ‘Parliamentary boundary reviews: What next?’ the committee has recommended that the government should not wait until the current review is completed in September for parliament to have a say.
Instead, it says that the House of Commons should vote as soon as possible on whether to continue with the present boundary review or hold a new review in time for a 2022 general election.
The current review reduces the number of parliamentary seats from 650 to 600, which the PACAC argues that the House of Commons is unlikely to support.
However, if this decision is left until autumn, there will not be time to carry out a new one before 2022, therefore PACAC is calling for the government to give Parliament the opportunity to debate the options for a new review in time for legislation to be passed before summer if required.
Chair of the committee, Bernard Jenkin, said: “The time to decide this in principle is now.
“If the government waits until the autumn, Parliament will be faced with an invidious choice: either approve the new boundaries or hold the next election on boundaries that will be over 20 years out of date.
“But, if we decide this now, now it would be possible to change the law so new boundaries at 650 seats can be in place before the next election.”
He added: “Our predecessor committee, PASC, recommended in a report, ‘Too many ministers’, that if the House of Commons is reduced in size by 650 to 600, which is 9%, then the relevant legislation should also be amended to ensure that there would be 9% (8) fewer ministers in the House of Commons.
“If the government wants to keep the present number ministers, then the House of Commons should remain the same size it is now.”
Top image:Robert Ingelhart
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