A very close result is predicted on Tuesday when MPs vote on whether to introduce constituency boundary changes before the general election. A fortnight ago peers voted by a large majority (300 to 231) to delay the reforms until after the election.
The chances of retaining Cornwall’s Tamar border and stopping a Devonwall constituency will be greatly strengthened if MPs vote to delay boundary change until 2018. Importantly, it will mean the next election will be fought with Cornwall having its current representation of 6 MPs instead of having to share an MP with Devon.
The 57 Liberal Democrats have confirmed they will be voting with Labour to delay changes and Keep Cornwall Whole has written to Cornwall’s Conservative MPs Sheryll Murray, Sarah Newton and George Eustice asking them to ‘vote for Cornwall’ and against the introduction of boundary change before the next election.
Text of KCW e-mail message to Cornwall’s Conservative MPs:
Dear Sarah, Sheryll and George,
As you know there is a vote on the Boundaries Bill this week – one that could result in all of the changes being delayed until after the next election.
For us this is not a party political issue: it’s a matter of principle.
We appreciate the fact that when the Boundaries Bill was before Parliament all of you supported our campaign, and voted to protect Cornwall.
We are now asking for your support for one final time – if the boundary changes are delayed then there will be no cross-border seat in 2015, if they are not delayed then there almost certainly will be.
We are sure that you will be under some pressure to ‘toe the party line’ on this matter: we are not asking you to vote against your party, but rather to vote for Cornwall.
Many thanks
Keep Cornwall Whole
