Map created by Enfield Southgate Conservatives showing how Enfield Southgate would be divided up between neighbouring constituenciesThere doesn't seem to be much that the two parties on Enfield Council agree on these days, but the Parliamentary Boundary Commission's proposals for changes to Enfield constituencies have proved equally unpopular with both the ruling Labour Group and opposition Conservative Group. Though whether or not they both favour the same alternative is another question.
Today's meeting of the full Council will be debating a paper which proposes that representations should be made to the Boundary Commission to reconsider their plans:
[T]he Council and representatives of both political parties agree that the initial proposals, as they impact on all three of the existing constituencies within the borough, are not in the best interests of the people of Enfield and its surrounding area, and should therefore be re-considered.
The specific points made in the paper relate mainly to the Enfield Southgate constituency, whose constituent wards would be distributed between no fewer than five reconfigured new constituencies, in three of which Enfield residents would be very much the minority, the majority of constituents living in the boroughs of Barnet or Haringey.
"Undermine community cohesion"
Enfield Over 50s Forum president Monty Meth also has strong feelings about the proposals. He says they would be "destroying many years work by all political parties and voluntary sector organizations in seeking to create an environment where our diverse communities comes together under a single local authority with well-established, widely recognised Parliamentary representation" and "undermine the community cohesion and community allegiance we have created and achieved in Enfield.”
Unsurprisingly, Enfield Southgate Conservative Party is particularly vexed by the proposal to abolish the constituency and has launched Save Our Southgate (aka "Operation Humpty", aimed at "putting Southgate together again"). Unlike the Council, they are proposing an alternative: move Bush Hill Park into Enfield Southgate, extend Enfield North southward and move some parts of Tottenham into Edmonton constituency.
The problem with that, of course, is that while it would solve the problem for Enfield residents, it would create the same sort of issue for Tottenham (ie Haringey) residents, who would find themselves in an Enfield-dominated constituency.
Only one satisfactory solution
There's really only one satisfactory way to resolve these problems: don't reduce the number of MPs. Keeping the same number of MPs it should be possible to rebalance constituency populations without having to create constituencies that go across local authority borders. And how does it make sense to cut the number of MPs when the population is increasing? They are busy enough dealing with constituents as it is and it is important for democracy to have a large enough number of backbenchers on the government side who have at least a modicum of independence from their leaders.
