MP Hilary Benn has said provisional proposals to carve up his Leeds Central contituency at the next general election ‘make no sense’.
Boundary Commission proposals aimed at reducing the total number of Westminster MPs would see the current Leeds Central constituency – which covers much of ‘inner’ south Leeds and other inner city areas in central Leeds – splintered into four new seats.
You can see the proposals in full and have your say here. A public hearing will also take place in Leeds over two days in October – full details here.
In a statement on his website, Mr Benn said:
“These are only provisional proposals, but my constituents will be very concerned to see the proposed break-up of their local communities. It makes no sense to split up the communities of Hyde Park and Woodhouse, Beeston and Holbeck, City and Hunslet, Burmantofts and Richmond Hill and Middleton Park into four different constituencies with four different MPs.
“What’s more – at a time when things are tough for many people – this is a completely unnecessary disruption which is being imposed on us by David Cameron for party advantage.
“It will do nothing to help the people of Leeds Central, so while we will respond to this consultation by arguing for communities to be kept together, I will continue to work hard to represent them as I have always done.”
Stuart Bruce, a former Labour councillor for Middleton, has blogged his analysis on the changes based on date provided by The Guardian newspaper.
The review of constituency boundaries is being carried out after Parliament decided that there should be a reduction in the number of constituencies across theUK, and that there should be similar numbers of electors in each constituency. The number of constituencies in England is being reduced from 533 to 502.
