EDITOR'S CHAIR: Chartists' dream still far from reality

Historical accuracy hasn’t been a key element of the ITV series.

The Chartists were seen being shot on a bridge somewhere in the countryside rather than outside the Westgate Hotel in Newport after a bloody battle.

And Queen Victoria was ludicrously depicted as taking the decision herself to have the sentence handed down to John Frost and his fellow Chrtists of being hanged, drawn and quartered commuted to transportation to Australia, apparently to save her Welsh housekeeper from further upset.

Nevertheless, having the central role Newport played in helping to shape modern democracy played out on a national stage is no bad thing.

It is strange, then, that there has been little mention of the Chartists in coverage of this week’s proposed changes to parliamentary boundaries.

One of the six reforms proposed by the People’s Charter of 1838 was equal constituencies, securing the same amount of representation for the same number of electors, instead of allowing less populous constituencies to have as much or more weight than larger ones.

Fast forward 178 years and that is more or less what the Boundary Commission has proposed.

There is a certain irony in the proposals including a reduction in the number of MPs serving Newport, the home of Chartism.

If enacted, the Commission’s proposals would see the number of MPs in the House of Commons reduced from 650 to 600 by creating equal constituencies – with each constituency in the UK containing roughly the same number of eligible voters.

This electoral quota is reached by dividing the total electorate of the UK by the number of required constituencies.

The idea is that each MP should serve a constituency of just under 75,000 people.

Many have cried foul over the proposals, not least Labour MPs who believe the proposed changes affect them more adversely than other parties and amount to gerrymandering by the Conservatives.

Indeed, the Boundary Commission plans would see Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s seat disappear. Then again, the same would happen to former Tory Chancellor George Osborne.

There are also concerns that the Boundary Commission’s calculations are based on the electoral register of December, 2015, and therefore those who registered for the EU referendum are not included.

And when Brexit eventually happens there will be work currently done by Britain’s MEPs that will have to devolved, to an extent, back to Westminster.

Opponents of the proposals will also point to a reduction in elected representatives while the unelected House of Lords remains unchanged – in fact, the number of peers has increased by more than 150 since 2010.

To be fair to the Commission, it was asked to complete a task that could never please everyone – and to produce its proposals on time it had to have a cut-off point in terms of which voter numbers it used.

Wales would see the biggest proportional change in the number of MPs, reducing from 40 to 29.

The Gwent area would see two constituencies disappear, with Newport East and West merged into one seat and Islwyn being abolished all together.

The proposals include some odd geographical anomalies.

In its report, the Boundary Commission for Wales says it “sought to minimise the breaking of local ties”.

And yet, if enacted, the proposals would see the people of Rogerstone in Newport served by the MP for Caerphilly while Caerleon would become part of the Torfaen constituency. 

The ‘if’ in the previous sentence is a massive one. There is now a consultation on the proposals and, ultimately, MPs will decide whether to accept the changes.

Do turkeys vote for Christmas?

There is some way to go in this debate but if I was a betting man I wouldn’t be putting much money on there being 50 fewer MPs any time soon.

It has taken nearly 180 years for the Chartists’ demand for equal constituencies to make it this far.

It might be many more before it actually happens. Don’t hold your breath.

• I’m on holiday for the next two weeks. This column returns on October 6.