Jack Straw: Tory plans to cut MPs are anti-democratic

730AM GMT 10 March 2010

Jack Straw arrives for the weekly cupboard assembly at Downing Street Photo PHOTOSHOT

The Justice Secretary criticised a Conservative offer to revoke the series of parliamentary seats by about 10% as ""outright gerrymandering"" on Tuesday.

In a Hansard Society harangue on electoral reform, Mr Straw additionally warned that carrying fewer MPs would outcome in a poorer use for constituents.

House of Lords Playing a dangerous diversion with sleaze Alan Johnson would scupper Tory infancy at choosing if he transposed Gordon Brown Jack Straw urged by Labour rebels to plea Gordon Brown David Camerons decapitation plan for Labour ministers David Cameron starts to get his summary opposite

If elected, the Tories are approaching to cut the series of MPs and turn out subdivision sizes, a little of that have tens of thousands some-more electorate than others.

David Cameron, the Tory leader, has urged the move as square of plans to revoke the cost of politics.

But the benefaction electoral bounds additionally meant that the Tories need a most higher share of the renouned opinion than the Labour Party in sequence to win as most seats.

Labour could nonetheless sojourn the greatest celebration in the Commons after the subsequent ubiquitous election, even if they check fewer votes than the Tories overall.

But Mr Straw pronounced ""The assumingly just call to cut the cost of governing body is essentially deception for a dangerous, mortal and anti-democratic square of gerrymandering.

""The Conservative Party proposes to cut the series of MPs by 10% but contrariety the will of the people in a referendum and but any correct bid to find any kind of cross-party consensus.

""That is given their offer is not about slicing the cost of politics, as they explain - it is about advantaging the Conservative Party.""

Mr Straw pronounced that the series of seats had usually augmenting by 3 per cent given 1950, whilst constituencies had augmenting in distance by twenty-five per cent.

""The effect of the Conservative proposals would be to be severed Members of Parliament from their constituencies and, where MPs go on to exist, supplement extremely to their workload,"" he said.

""That can usually meant that the turn of use to electorate would decrease at a time when we should be augmenting it.

""In sheer contrariety to Labour"s bulletin for relocating towards a new governing body on the basement of renouned consent, the Conservatives target to grocer scores of constituencies for contemptible domestic ends.""