Star comment: Commons would not miss a few

Libraries, shops, doctors’ surgeries – and above all the money to pay for services that people want and expect.

Nobody is going to say that what they lack is politicians. When everyone else is being expected to cut back, why should the same not apply to MPs and, for that matter, councillors?

The House of Commons would not miss one or two of its complement. Nor indeed 50, as that is the cut that was being proposed in the number of MPs, providing a slightly smaller, leaner, and above all cheaper House of Commons.

But Theresa May’s botched gamble in calling a general election is continuing to have far-reaching consequences. One of them is that the proposals to slim down the House of Commons look as if they are to be ditched.

Without an overall majority in Parliament, getting the changes through in the face of fierce opposition from Labour would be problematic. That is not a battle Mrs May wishes to fight right now, so we are apparently going to be stuck with the current system.

And that means the £50 million that, it was claimed, could have been saved over five years, will now not be saved. That is a lot of money which could have paid for a lot of things which voters would rate more highly than maintaining the current numbers of MPs.

It reinforces the perception that MPs and politicians are not prepared to make the sacrifices which they are asking voters to make.

We do, however, have to step back and not be mesmerised by the simple question of money, but also to consider whether the changes would be beneficial. There are all sorts of things which can be done to save money but if what you end up with is worse then the change is not good value.

In Shropshire there have been mixed views from the sitting MPs about the merits of the proposed changes. Some of them did not look a particularly good fit anyway, such as lumping Bridgnorth in with The Wrekin. And the proposal that Ludlow should merge with the northern part of the North Herefordshire constituency would mean that for the first time in history, so far as we are aware, a Shropshire Parliamentary constituency would extend across into a different county.

While nobody is going to miss something that does not happen, changing demographics mean that we can expect to see this issue arise again soon.