Wales shouldn’t have a “disproportionate” influence in the UK

A senior Conservative has said Wales shouldn’t have a “disproportionate” influence in the UK after it was claimed slashing the number of Welsh MPs could undermine the union. 

Councillor Richard John, the leader of the Conservative group on Monmouthshire County Council, made the comment as councillors discussed a redrawing of Parliamentary boundaries which will reduce the number of Welsh MPs from 40 to 32. 

The county is currently part of two Parliamentary constituencies – Monmouth and Newport East. But the Boundary Commission for Wales has proposed a new Monmouthshire seat which would share the same borders as the local authority. 

While councillors across the chamber welcomed the simplified boundary, they were split on the principle of reducing the number of MPs from Wales and the UK Conservative government’s stance that constituencies should contain a roughly equal number of voters. 

Cllr John, who led the council before the Conservatives were ousted by Labour at May’s local government elections, asked members to welcome the commission’s proposal of a Monmouthshire constituency “co-terminus with the local authority”. 

He said it would be simpler for residents to understand, a point that the council’s deputy leader, Paul Griffiths, also acknowledged as he said he would be “keen” to support Cllr John’s motion. 

But the Labour councillor put forward an amendment adding that the council “regrets the proposal from the Boundary Commission to reduce the number of Parliamentary constituencies in Wales”. 

Cllr Griffiths, who represents Chepstow Castle and Larkfield, told the council while he welcomed a constituency encompassing all of Monmouthshire he “regretted this is just a consequence of the UK Government, if you like, picking on Wales to reduce the number of Welsh members of the House of Commons, from 40 to 32, a reduction of over 20 per cent. It is not happening in any other part of the United Kingdom.” 

He said the “justification” that constituencies should have an equal number of voters to those in England had an “unintended consquence, it threatens the continuation of the United Kingdom.” 

Using the United States constitution as an example,

Cllr Griffiths said, in the United States, the constitution states that “numerical equality” between the 50 states is not appropriate.

“Wyoming, the smallest state, with a population of 500,000 – a fraction of that of Wales – and California, the largest with a population of 40 million, each have two members of the Senate,” he said. “They protect that union by protecting the smaller entitites in that union.” 

The councillor accused the Conservative government of wishing to reduce Welsh representation “for its own party political advantage” so there are less non-Conservatives MPs and said: “The consequence of that is to threaten the appetite of Wales to be part of that United Kingdom, I regret that immensely. 

“I’m a unionist, and believe Wales is best served by being part of the union, of working in partnership with the rest of the United Kingdom, and I felt the same about the EU. We’ve lost that but I would really regret the idea that we would inadvertently slide into a situation where through the desire for arithmetical equality, the desire for party political advantage, we begin to put at risk Wales’ place in that United Kingdom.” 

In response Cllr John said: “I hear the deputy leader’s point about the union. We passionately believe in the union, but we’re a union of equal partners. I don’t believe that one partner should have a disproportionate say, and I’m not sure the American political system is one we would really want to emulate. Wales should have an equal say in the future of the UK.” 

He added that in his view “what threatens the union is the soft nationalist agenda we’re getting from Mark Drakeford”, and criticised plans, backed by the Labour first minister of Wales, to increase the number of Senedd Members by 36. 

The Conservative group leader said the council had accepted the principle of constituencies of equal number of voters when it backed ward changes ahead of the most recent council elections and said the Labour amendment was outside of the scope of the Boundary Commission’s consultation. 

It is seeking views on the proposed constituencies but has said it cannot consider arguments about the number of Welsh MPs. 

Cllr John, who represents Mitchel Troy and Trellech, said: “It is a somewhat pointless and backwards-looking amendment to be honest.” 

The council backed the Labour amendment, agreeing to welcome the proposed Monmouthshire constituency but expressing its regret at the reduction in the number of constituencies in Wales, with the Conservative group voting against the amended motion. 

The Boundary Commission for Wales is taking comments on its proposals until November 15. 

The review of Parliamentary Constituencies has recommended constituencies have no less than 69,724 electors and no more than 77,062. 

It is proposed that England should have 543 constituencies, Scotland 57 and Northern Ireland 18.