LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
From: Miss Enid Lakeman, the Rev. Colin D. Westbrook, Hugh Heckstall-Smith, Edgar L. Thomsett, Group-Captain A. D. Panton, • Keidrych Rhys, H. B. Isherwood, Peter Red- Wove. D. G. Davies, R. T. Davies, W. M. Kid, well.
Boundaries and Bias
Sta.—Every time the growth or shrinkage of an elec- torate makes it necessary to revise a constituency boundary, we are reminded again of the extent to which the Boundary Commissioners' recommenda- tions may affect the result of the next election. Is it not time that we got round to devising a system that would make the result depend on the wishes expressed by the voters, and not on which side of some arbitrary line those voters happen to live?
The necessary system is. of course, already avail- able. Barons Court, for example, need never have been created if the area now covered by the new borough of Hammersmith had been one con- stituency. At one time, this returned four members (two from Hammersmith and two from Fulham); the electorate decreased so that four MPs were too many; to allow for only three, it was necessary to combine pieces of both boroughs in Barons Court. Had that area been one constituency, electing four members by PR, it 'would have remained as one three-member constituency, with no change except that the returning officer would do his sums a little differently.
Better still, the whole of West London, now cover- ing six parliamentary constituencies, could be one. I hen we could have had the reduction from seven members to six in 1948, and the further contemplated reduction to five, without any boundary change. The result could not, therefore, have been affected 'by the Boundary Commissioners and they could not have been suspected of favouring any party. It would have been quite impossible to get the absurdity .we have seen there in five out of the six post-war elec- tions, the Conservatives, with substantially more votes than Labour, winning only two of the seats. Labour the other four (five in 1945), no matter whether any seat was won on a `split vote' or not.
The Electoral Reform Society, Albany Building. Creek Road. SE8
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