Boundary Changes

So Tory party policy is too reduce the number of MP's by equaling out the size of constituencies. As the Lib Dems want too reduce the number of MP's as well, and in return for the referendun on AV, then it looks like this is going to happen. Nothing really bad there, I can understand the logic, and it seems fair to make sure MP's are elected by similar levels of people.

However, there is another side to this. The system is thought to be biased towards Labour, and it's a fair thing for the Tories to go after, they may gain but you can't really complain about it for democratic reasons as the idea in itself isn't that bad on paper.

The BBC points this out:
Constituencies like the Isle of Wight, for example, has 110,000 voters, while the Western Isles has only 22,000 voters.

Doesn't seem fair does it? Perhaps equalising the electorate sizes for places like this would be more democratic.

But wait a minute...aren't the Tories champions of the idea of the 'local MP'? Don't they oppose more proportional systems because that local connection will be lost? And here you begin to see the contradiction in Tory policy.

For these 2 places mentioned happen to be their own localised communities. I mean if you put the Western Islands in with somewhere on the mainland that not very 'local' now is it, because they are now grouped in with people in different situations from them who live many miles away. The MP would no longer be local to the constituency, only part of it. Same for the Isle Of White, you can't make a new MP for it because thats adding to the number, not taking away, and it wouldn't be very local to chop off part of that islands population and group them in with somewhere on the mainland.

Of course as Island(s) these 2 are particuarly good examples, but it's doesn't take much to see big differences in cities either, with one of a city facing very different situations and circumstances to another depending on how it has grown over the years. Do you think it's fair to have the intrests of the affluent represented by the same MP representing the poorest, just because in that particular half of the city there happens to be more upper market houses?

What this basically shows is that Tory policy isn't for a shiny bright democracy, it's for themselves. If they really cared so much about being local they'd be wanting to make a whole lot more MP's to ensure even more people are covered, and if they really cared about fairness and everyone's vote counting then they'd support a PR system. Rather what they do care about is reforming the system in their favour so they get more seats in the House Of Commons, regardless of whether they are actually representing 'local' communities or not.