A Conservative manifesto pledge to slash the number of MPs in a bid to save £50m is set to be abandoned, according to reports.
Divisive proposals to reduce the size of the Commons from 650 to 600 seats will be dropped after the prime minister, Theresa May, failed to hold on to her party’s majority in the general election, the Times said, citing “three senior sources”.
The reform was intended to save £50m over five years and equalise the number of voters in each constituency.
But concern about getting a Commons majority for the move, which would mean a wide-ranging redrawing of constituency boundaries, has reportedly led to the change of direction.
Last year, the Boundary Commission published draft seat boundaries designed to equalise the size of constituencies and cut back on MPs. May’s team are said to doubt that she will be able to get the required vote to enact the plan.
The commission is set to publish its latest proposals based on 600 constituencies next month, revealing which MPs would face the axe.
Labour opposes the reduction, which would cut the number of seats in its urban heartlands and result in the party losing more seats than the Tories. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has previously labelled the plans “gerrymandering”.
The Tory leadership is preparing to abandon the plan and ask the Boundary Commission to redo the review on the basis of keeping all 650 MPs to ensure that all constituencies are of broadly equal size, the Times said.
If abandoned, the plans will be the latest Tory manifesto pledge scrapped in the wake of the snap election in June.
May has already dropped plans to push through social care funding changes dubbed the “dementia tax”, and an expansion of grammar schools since the election.
