Parliamentary Boundary Commissions

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 9:42 pm on 1 March 1983.

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Photo of Mr Allan Stewart Mr Allan Stewart , Renfrewshire East 9:42, 1 March 1983

I understand completely the point the right hon. Gentleman is making but he will recognise that two of the rules are significantly different and he will also recognise that the commissions are separate and independent bodies.

My right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Runcorn, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Darwen, my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes, my hon. Friends the Members for Buckingham, for Honiton and for Eastleigh (Sir D. Price) all spoke on the general theme of the timing of the commission reports in relation to changes in population that have taken place before the date on which the electorates that provide the basis for the reports are formulated.

A number of suggestions have been made by my hon. Friends. My hon. Friend the Member for Devizes suggested a two-year running review. My hon. Friend the Member for Brighouse and Spenborough made a suggestion in the same area. The House should, however, recognise that when the 1954 order was debated, hon. Members took the view that there was too much emphasis on frequent boundary changes and that too frequent changes had deleterious effects. It was agreed then that changes should be made less often than the Speaker's Conference had originally proposed.

My hon. and learned Friend the Member for Darwen suggested that the Boundary Commission should be full-time and that this would meet the problem identified by a number of my hon. Friends with regard to the delay in the commissions' reports. I am not sure that my hon. Friend's suggestion would solve the problem. The present English review was delayed for a number of reasons. The commission had to interrupt its work to draw the European parliamentary constituencies and it had to await the outcome of legal proceedings against the local government boundary commission. These points should be borne in mind when we talk about delay in conclusions being reached by the commission.

A number of hon. Members, particularly my hon. Friends, have pointed to the relationship between the rules and the inherent tendency of the number of seats in the House therefore to increase. My hon. Friends the Members for Eastleigh, for Chichester (Mr. Nelson) and for Brighouse and Spenborough described the ratchet effect which is set out in appendix B of the English commission's report. There is no doubt that there is an inbuilt tendency for the number of seats to increase. A number of my hon. Friends, particularly the hon. Member for Chichester, pointed out the disadvantages of that, although there were counter-arguments put by Opposition Members, including the hon. Member for Swindon and the hon. Member for Rother Valley (Mr. Hardy). The House should certainly take heed of the fact that there is a clear inbuilt tendency for the number of seats in the House to rise.

The right hon. Member for Sparkbrook and my hon. Friends the Members for Harrow, Central and Eastleigh referred to the need for the Boundary Commissions to explain their decisions at inquiries. There are counter-arguments to that. The commissions have pointed out that if they publicly argued for their provisional recommendations they might well appear to be biased in their favour and have their motives called into question when they reached their final decisions. Members of the commissions have, therefore, been content to let the provisional recommendations speak for themselves.

If one studies the extensive procedure that the commissions adopt and the meticulous care with which they examine the various arguments put to them, it is absolutely clear that the House is in their debt. In a debate such as this on the working of the commissions, which in effect prescribe the number of our seats and the areas that we represent, almost inevitably we may appear to be interested parties, particularly when the surgery has been so drastic. The immediate aftermath of such an operation is not the best time to decide on procedural changes. On constitutional and electoral matters affecting the House there is a need for consensus. We should not lightly alter accepted, impartial and effective methods, devised through the commissions, of maintaining a proper equality of representation in the House.