Theresa May – because of fears of the reaction of her own back-benchers – has shelved plans to try to force through changes to parliamentary constituency boundaries that would have given them an advantage of twenty or so seats compared to current boundaries.
The closeness of the result at last year’s general election can be seen on this BBC map, in which all constituencies are represented as if of equal size:
SKWAWKBOX comment:
This is the situation that the Tories have been accused of trying to rig in their favour, by forcing through a boundary review which saw 1.4 million poor and ethnic minority voters excluded in the way in which the new boundaries were calculated.
The delay to the changes is welcome – but the Tories’ assault on the democratic rights of ordinary people and their attempt to rig all future elections in their favour must be cancelled completely if the UK is to hold onto even a semblance of genuine democracy.
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They haven’t shelved Universal Credit though. The cruelty is just too much fun.
The Tories must be absolutely terrified of losing any substantial vote.
Is being petrified by fear the new Tory version of ‘strong and stable’
This is another example of how the Tories base their electoral strategies and tactics on the shenanigans of the US Republican party. This needs neutralising immediately.
Yes the US Republicans do this big time!
There is also a petition in the US trying to get Presidents elected on the popular vote instead of the archaic and very dubious electoral college, this would have meant Trump lost by 3m!
This dropping of these plans in the UK is probably good news although it would have got rid of a few Right Wing Labour MPs and one or two odious ones in my city!
600 MPs then would have had to represent the UK public instead of 650 so it would mean a worse service for constituents for examples re casework – all courtesy of Bonehead Cameron (remember him, he once said he was “a fighter” then immediately buzzed off after the referendum result to make loads of money like a typical Tory!
And I always say the first thing the Tories and Lib Dimwits did 8 years ago was to give tax cuts to: millionaires, big business corporations, private landlords with multiple properties, hedge funds etc. so it was DON’T WORRY RICH AND POWERFUL THIS AUSTERITY STUFF WON’T EFFECT YOU – IT IS ONLY FOR WORKING PEOPLE!
And Labour should get this over to people in election leaflets etc.
Yes. It’s all so the ruling class can squeeze a little bit more profit out of the working class. These two things must be the biggest lies of the 21st century – austerity and meritocracy.
Austerity is a stick that is used to beat the working class and meritocracy is a carrot they dangle over the working class. Both are designed to maximise profits. Arbeid Macht Frei.
There doesn’t appear to be a date for the following, but I think it’s from a couple of years or so ago, and no doubt their wealth has increased even MORE since then:
http://jeremycorbyn.org.uk/articles/jeremy-corbyn-the-100-richest-families-in-britain-have-seen-their-wealth-increase-by-55-5-billion-since-2010/
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/attacks-jeremy-corbyn-weaker-180907095256686.html
The right wingers are forced to use claims of racism or antisemitism because they are can’t reveal the true reason they object to Corbyn.
The real reason is anti-socialism.
If the right wingers complained about Corbyn being a socialist the game would be up and the veneer of parliamentary democracy would be irreversibly cracked.
My initial thought was Yes, you’re probably right, but then I recalled how the Establishment’s propaganda machine villified and demonised Ken Livingstone when he (and his left-wing colleagues) ran the GLC in the 1980s – ie labelled him Red Ken etc, etc. And it goes without saying of course that had the Tories or the Labour Right been in control of the GLC (and the six Metropolitan County Councils) it wouldn’t have been abolished (along with the six Met CCs), and THAT tells us all we need to know about what the Establishment thinks of democracy.
The map is misleading in the context of the article. It is showing constituencies as if they were spatially equal (by geographical size) rather than by voting population. And the word voting population is important as changes to modes of registration have driven people off the register – another lesson from the conservatives republican friends across the Atlantic.
Agreed as far as it goes, but the usual constituency map exaggerates the Tory vote because they tend to win in large, but sparsely populated, rural shires.