Last Thursday night the Labour controlled Borough Council held an Extraordinary Meeting to put forward an alternative proposal to that proposed by the Boundary Commission.
Labour carried the motion that apart from Wellington Telford should be one Constituency and that the Wrekin constituency would contain Wellington and the area surrounding Telford, including Bridgnorth. This would result in one totally urban area and the other one very rural.
Cllr Andrew Eade said ‘The Boundary Commission for England is a strictly non political organisation that has made it very clear to T & W Council that “no other factors will override the necessity to achieve electorate numbers within the range allowed by the Commission”.
“In their haste to politically fiddle the boundaries they have completely forgotten the 3,000 houses due to be built in Lawley alone that will increase voter numbers well above and beyond the limit stipulated by the Boundary Commission who will simply have to bin their proposals”.
“Labour’s ridiculous proposal is little more than political meddling that has left tax payers in the borough with a £2,500 bill in a cynical attempt to carve out a constituency that will only produce a Labour Member of Parliamentary rather than meet the needs of the of the electorate”.
“Most agree on the need to reduce the number of MP’s in England and clearly changes to constituency boundaries in Shropshire must happen and we should accept independent proposals that make a good deal of sense for the county as a whole”.