The Conservatives have hit out at boundary review proposals for north-west London in an attempt to keep Boris Johnson’s seat intact.
Their intervention comes as Labour begin their fight to save Jeremy Corbyn’s Islington North constituency from being abolished when the political map of London is redrawn in 2020.
The Boundary Commission’s review will reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 and will result in five fewer MPs in London.
As the second day of public consultation on the Boundary Commission’s constituency review gets under way in Westminster, Sam Hartley, the organisation’s secretary, said the review is “inevitably a story of political intrigue” but it is trying to keep it politics-free.
The commission suggests scrapping Islington North and replacing it with new seat Finsbury Park & Stoke Newington, which would pit Mr Corbyn against his ally Diane Abbott, who is MP for Hackney North.
Labour instead want to keep Islington North by including parts of Canonbury, and would scrap their new shadow Brexit minister Keir Starmer’s seat of Holborn & St Pancras.
Tory peer Lord Hayward told the hearing he wants to stop constituencies being split over council boundary lines in Hillingdon, Ealing, Brent and Harrow and Hammersmith and Fulham.
Under current proposals Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s seat of Uxbridge & South Ruislip will be split between the new seat of Hillingdon & Uxbridge and the existing Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner seat represented by Tory minister Nick Hurd. By sticking to borough boundaries, Mr Johnson’s seat would only undergo a marginal redraw.
