MPs battle it out as Richmond Park seat faces chop (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)
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Zac Goldmith and Vince Cable to battle it out as Richmond Park seat faces chop
5:06pm Monday 12th September 2011 in News By Paul Teed
Vince Cable could see his parliamentary seat axed under new Boundary Commission proposals, it has been claimed.
Rumours have been swirling in Westminster today about whether Twickenham MP Dr Cable and Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith’s parliamentary constituencies could merge.
The Boundary Commission is due to release its proposals to carve up seats in London to reduce the number from 73 to 68.
It could lead to Dr Cable and Mr Goldsmith fighting for a new Richmond and Twickenham constituency at the next general election.
The Boundary Commission report, embargoed until midnight tonight but doing the rounds online already, said the number of voters in Richmond was too small for two parliamentary seats.
It said: “We also noted that the existing Twickenham and Richmond Park constituencies each had an electorate within 5 per cent of the electoral quota, but that it was not possible to leave the Richmond Park constituency unchanged, as we had decided to include the Kingston-upon-Thames part of the constituency in the south London sub-region.
“We propose to include the remaining 11 Richmond-upon-Thames wards in a Richmond and Twickenham constituency, including four [St Margarets and North Twickenham, South Twickenham, Twickenham Riverside, and West Twickenham] from the existing Twickenham constituency.”
Parliament passed legislation in February stating the independent Boundary Commission must review constituency boundaries and make recommendations to the Government by October 2013.
It has made initial proposals for London, in which only four of the 73 existing constituencies would not change, and will launch a consultation tomorrow.
The number of seats in England will need to reduce from 533 to 502 and each one must have between 72,819 and 80,473 voters.
It has been claimed that up to 50 MPs could lose their constituencies under the proposals.
The report was leaked onto the Guido Fawkes political blog today. MPs were supposed to have a day to read it before the plans were made public at midnight.
Voters will get the chance to have their say during a 12-week consultation from September 13 to December 5.
Comments(19)
lucullus
says...
11:14pm Mon 12 Sep 11
PhillipTaylor
says...
8:16am Tue 13 Sep 11
I wondered who would be the first to respond to my provocative posting!
I see the story is the main item on the news this morning with Charles Kennedy possiblygetting a peerage.
Phillip Taylor
Gareth Roberts
says...
9:31am Tue 13 Sep 11
ChrisSquire
says...
2:03pm Tue 13 Sep 11
. . 2001 D. Crystal Lang. & Internet ii. 53 Not all chatgroups troll; some insert clues to the existence of a troll into a message that only the cognoscenti recognize; some are very much against the whole process, conscious of the communicative disruption that can result . . ’
As with an attention seeking child, trolling should be ignored, whatever the provocation.
nlait
says...
7:37pm Tue 13 Sep 11
I am sure that some people are upset at the proposed break-up of the current Twickenham seat, but actually the proposals make perfect sense.
Hampton North Ward is bordered by Hanworth Ward.
Heathfield Ward is bordered by Hanworth Park and Hounslow Heath Wards.
The demographics and socio economics of Hanworth and Hanworth Park Wards are probably not quite so dissimilar from Heathfield and Whitton, particularly Heathfield Ward.
Heathfield always seems to be no-man's land, 'jammed' between Hanworth and Hounslow.
I suspect that local Labour Party activists must be pleased by the proposal, since Hounslow Heath is a safe Labour Ward and they have, I think, two Councillors in Hanworth.
Should the proposal go ahead, then it will probably give the Labour Party a real impetus to target Heathfield and Whitton Wards in 2014, and possibly Hampton North Ward.
The local elections in 2014 will no doubt be used by all parties to test their level of support in a new seat.
Indeed, who will be the dominant parties in the new seat - Conservative and Labour, or Conservative and Lib Dem or a three way fight??
As for the Richmond and Twickenham seat, we should remember that the former East Twickenham Ward was in Richmond & Barnes from 1983 to 1997.
Again, the demographics of Twickenham Riverside, South Twickenham and St Margarets and North Twickenham in particular are a very neat fit with the Surrey Wards.
Interesting times ahead...
metis
says...
10:35pm Tue 13 Sep 11
Add to that a different diocese boundary.
Confused....you should be !!
Andrew235
says...
11:19pm Tue 13 Sep 11
I will have to disagree with one of the above comments, and argue that it is impossible to claim that the constituency would have similar demographics when you compare Teddington with, for example, Hounslow Heath.
The areas of Teddington and Hanworth have completely different identities and interests as both are in different boroughs and run by different councils.
Teddington has much closer links with other towns in its borough such as Twickenham and Richmond and this proposed constituency aptly demonstrates the ignorance of the Boundary Commission and its indifference towards local identity.
I do hope that others complain about this absurd proposal to the Boundary Commission as I have done as it completely disregards local identity.
PhillipTaylor
says...
11:24pm Tue 13 Sep 11
What is wrong with that?
Nothing- it's merely a statement of opinion which these columns encourage, and it obviously rankles with the Liberal Democrats because they know that Vince has not lost his former socialist credentials. And he was clearly hassled this morning when interviewed on it.
Chris Squire's 'Troll' definition is gratefully received but I plead 'not guilty' or i would be turned to stone!
I think nlait makes some very constructive observations and I would agree that Vince should stand in the People's Republic of Teddington rather than fight Zac if we get a Twickenham & Richmond constituency- that would let Cllr knight in nicely as Zac's opponent. So my money is on Zac and at least i can express a view on it.
And I am not trolling here!
Phillip Taylor
RiverLover
says...
8:41am Wed 14 Sep 11
Anyway...I do not think any of you can be called 'trolls' as 'Trolling is a game about identity deception' - wikipedia.
That is one thing we can all agree upon as you hardly wave your respective orange or blue flags discretely nor deceptively!
Nick Lait
says...
9:10am Wed 14 Sep 11
However, with regard to the comments of 'Andrew235', it is not the fault of the Boundary Commission. They are merely doing a job as imposed on them by the desire of the Coalition Government to reduce the size of the House of Commons.
Indeed, both David Cameron and Nick Clegg repeatedly stressed the need to reduce the size of the House of Commons.
To achieve seats of an equal size, cross Borough seats are necessary. The days of one Borough having seats composed entirely of its own Wards are more or less over.
Richmond & Barnes had to be abolished in 1997 because it was simply to small, as were the Kingston and Surbiton seats.
As Richmond is a small Borough, it has to be paired. Richmond was paired with Kingston in 1995 to form Richmond Park.
However, the Boundary Commission has considered Kingston to be 'south' of the Thames and indeed Wandsworth which prevents any pairing of Wards in that direction.
As Hounslow and Richmond are both considered to be 'West London', then a pairing has been achieved this way.
Indeed, the 285 bus route runs through Hampton Wick, Teddington, Hampton Hill and Hanworth - so there is a link between these areas!!
The Boundary Commission has clearly taken the Teddington and Hamptons on block, together with Whitton and Heathfield, and added in three Hounslow Wards.
Indeed, perhaps Andrew235 should consider that he lives in a GLA seat which covers Hounslow, Richmond and Kingston.
Rather than Teddington and Hanworth, I wonder whether South West Middlesex would be a better name.
jeremyhm
says...
11:17am Wed 14 Sep 11
Gareth Roberts
says...
11:56am Wed 14 Sep 11
Nick Lait
says...
12:18pm Wed 14 Sep 11
Perhaps he will consult residents in Whitton and Heathfield Wards as to their postal address, i.e. a Hounslow postal address and urge Royal Mail to change it to Twickenham as the relevant Cabinet Minister.
Sparkythecat
says...
1:33pm Wed 14 Sep 11
Whitts End
says...
4:19pm Wed 14 Sep 11
jeremyhm wrote:I'm old enough to remember when Twickenham was a very safe seat - a Conservative one!
Question: is V Cable's concern more about Twickenham losing its identity or more about V Cable losing a safe seat?
As a Whitton resident I'll be sorry to be unceremoniously thrown out of the constituency I've known all my life, but interested to see what happens in "Heathfield and Teddington" (or West London Leftovers, or whatever they finally decide to call it).
nlait
says...
6:49pm Wed 14 Sep 11
Four Twickenham Wards have been removed and replaced by three Hounslow Wards.
In relation to 'SparkytheCat', I appreciate that Dr Cable wishes to consult with local residents with regard to the inclusion of three Hounslow Wards and the exclusion of four Twickenham Wards.
However, perhaps at the same time he will appreciate the long standing concerns of Whitton and Heathfield residents who they pay their Council Tax to Richmond, elect Richmond Councillors and currently elect a Twickenham MP, yet the Post Office in a high handed manner refuses to amend our postal address from Hounslow to Twickenham.
The Whitton Park area, namely Rydal Gardens, Wills Crescent, Grasmere Avenue and Whitton Waye have always been in the former Twickenham and current Richmond Boroughs.
If my memory serves me correctly, it was only an Independent Candidate for Whitton Ward who understood our plight and promised, if elected, to try and fight for us. Food for thought there I think...
I sincerely hope that Dr Cable will consider this as part of his consultation.
Sparkythecat
says...
11:30pm Thu 15 Sep 11
Andrew235
says...
5:23pm Sun 18 Sep 11
Nick Lait wrote:I really do hope Nick Lait is joking. Does he genuinely think that something as irrelevant as a bus route constitutes a suitable link on which a constituency-wide identity can be built?
Firstly, I would agree with Phillip Taylor that the Richmond and Twickenham seat, if confirmed in 2013, will be a Conservative seat.
However, with regard to the comments of 'Andrew235', it is not the fault of the Boundary Commission. They are merely doing a job as imposed on them by the desire of the Coalition Government to reduce the size of the House of Commons.
Indeed, both David Cameron and Nick Clegg repeatedly stressed the need to reduce the size of the House of Commons.
To achieve seats of an equal size, cross Borough seats are necessary. The days of one Borough having seats composed entirely of its own Wards are more or less over.
Richmond & Barnes had to be abolished in 1997 because it was simply to small, as were the Kingston and Surbiton seats.
As Richmond is a small Borough, it has to be paired. Richmond was paired with Kingston in 1995 to form Richmond Park.
However, the Boundary Commission has considered Kingston to be 'south' of the Thames and indeed Wandsworth which prevents any pairing of Wards in that direction.
As Hounslow and Richmond are both considered to be 'West London', then a pairing has been achieved this way.
Indeed, the 285 bus route runs through Hampton Wick, Teddington, Hampton Hill and Hanworth - so there is a link between these areas!!
The Boundary Commission has clearly taken the Teddington and Hamptons on block, together with Whitton and Heathfield, and added in three Hounslow Wards.
Indeed, perhaps Andrew235 should consider that he lives in a GLA seat which covers Hounslow, Richmond and Kingston.
Rather than Teddington and Hanworth, I wonder whether South West Middlesex would be a better name.
Nick appears to have a fundamentally warped vision of the issue. Approaching the situation as if he were drawing lines on a blank map.
By doing this he fails to grasps that this is a question of identity and social history and not simply geography.
Furthermore, even his geographical claims are dubious.
PhillipTaylor says...
9:25pm Mon 12 Sep 11
Good riddance to Vince- a rotten MP only interested in pursing socialism through the LibDems for his own egotism and self satisfaction and personal publicity and has been rubbish with the bankers. He has done nothing for Twickenham.
I hope Zac wipes the floor with him if the seat is joined up. Zac has done more in a year than Vince will do in a lifetime.
Phillip Taylor