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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
George Morgan

Alison McGovern's Wirral South seat set to be scrapped in major shake up

Wirral MP Alison McGovern's seat would be scrapped under plans laid out by electoral officials.

Ms McGovern, the MP for Wirral South since 2010, would see her constituency abolished, with the borough of Wirral losing one of its four parliamentary seats.

The wards which now make up Wirral South would be split up, with Heswall and Clatterbridge becoming part of Wirral West and Bebington entering the Birkenhead constituency.

Bromborough and Eastham would join wards in Cheshire West and Chester to become part of the Ellesmere Port and Neston constituency.

Other losses in our region include the Liverpool constituency of Walton - currently held by Dan Carden - which would be abolished under the plans, with a new Liverpool Norris Green constituency created.

The new Liverpool Norris Green constituency would include the wards of Clubmoor, County, Croxteth, Fazakerley, Molyneux, Norris Green and Warbreck.

Maria Eagle's current Garston and Halewood constituency would be divided up too.

A new Liverpool Garston patch would include the areas of Woolton, Speke-Garston, Belle Vale, Church, Cressington and Allerton and Hunts Cross.

The Halewood side would be incorporated into a new Widnes and Halewood constituency - with a new Runcorn and Helsby seat also created - meaning the removal of the Halton constituency.

Across the country the plans would see the current total of 650 MPs remain.

The number in England would rise from 533 to 543, while Scotland would lose two, bringing its numbers down to 57.

Wales would lose eight seats, leaving it with just 32 of the 40 seats it currently has, while Northern Ireland would continue to have 18 MPs.

Responding to the plans, Cat Smith, Labour’s shadow minister for democracy, said: “The review of parliamentary constituencies is a crucial democratic step and Labour will engage fully and constructively in the consultation.

“But the Conservative Government’s one-size-fits-all approach to the exact size of constituencies has made the Boundary Commission's work much harder, and will inevitably lead to the break-up of historic community ties across the UK."

A cabinet office spokesperson said: "Fundamentally, voters deserve to have confidence that their vote counts the same, no matter where it is cast in the UK.

"More equally sized parliamentary constituencies provides this assurance, which is why the Boundary Commissions will propose constituencies whose electorates vary in size by no more than +/- 5% from the average.

"This allows the Commissions the flexibility to take account of other factors, such as physical geographical features and local ties, subject to the overriding principle of equality in constituency size."

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