Political

13 September: a key date for future of MPs (and Labour)

Tuesday 13 September 2016 is the day on which the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England will published its initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituencies.

With the plans being based on a cut in the number of MPs (from 650 to 600 in total across the UK), many more constituencies will be facing major changes than in a ‘normal’ boundary review.

All this comes with an extra significance for Labour because the more radically an incumbent’s constituency is redrawn, the more likely they are to face a full and open reselection contest. Labour, as with other parties, has provisions in its selection rules for incumbent MPs to be given fast track status, getting them re-selected without a full selection process. But again the common position across parties is that such rules do not apply if a seat gets such a major change that it is no longer is their seat.

There will still be quite a long process between the initial proposals this September and the final agreed proposals. Even so, seeing how constituency boundaries could change will give a boost to moves to force Labour MPs to face full reselections. Especially given Jeremy Corbbyn’s own comments:
https://twitter.com/benrileysmith/status/756082989294034945

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