Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill — Clause 11 — Welsh Constituancies — 20 Oct 2010 at 21:00

The majority of MPs voted to keep the current Welsh Assembly constituencies unchanged by future boundary reviews which will affect UK Parliamentary constituencies.

Welsh Assembly constituencies are currently the same as UK Parliamentary constituencies; MP's support for this clause means they can (and will, as a result of other measures in the Bill) diverge in the future.

The division was on if Clause 11 of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill^[1] as amended by the Commons^[2] ought remain part of the Bill.

The effect of the clause is:

• Changes to UK Parliamentary Constituencies would not change Welsh Assembly constituencies.
• Permitting the results of reviews of Welsh constituencies currently in progress to effect the Welsh assembly constituencies but not the UK Parliament constituencies.

Clause 11 was neither debated, or amended during the Committee of the whole house which preceded this vote.

David Davies, MP for Monmouthshire, raised a point of order complaining about the fact there was no time for a debate on this clause^[3]. He was referred to the fact MPs had agreed a programme motion which was governing the timetable for proceedings.

During the Debate on the Act in general Conservative MP Mark Field said^[4]:

• The Welsh position has been maintained since we drew up the constituencies. There were 38 protected constituencies there until 1983, and 40 thereafter. The position of Wales has been protected, and it is massively over-represented. That is the reason for the move to equalise the size of electorates, which I also fully support.

During the Debate Labour MP Chris Bryant said^[5]:

• Wales is caught both by the equalisation of the number of seats-we are not debating that now, but we will when we deal with the next set of amendments-and by the reduction in the number of seats. The net effect for Wales is that the number of seats will be cut by a quarter.
• [1] Clause 11 of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill - National Assembly for Wales As published on 22.07.2010 ie. the Bill as introduced to the Commons.
• [2] Clause 13 of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill - National Assembly for Wales As published on 26.10.2010 ie. following amendments in the Commons committee.
• [3] David Davies MP, House of Commons, 20th October 2010
• [4] Mark Field MP, House of Commons, 20th October 2010
• [5] Chris Bryant MP, House of Commons, 20th October 2010

Debate in Parliament | Source |