Boundary Commission: Salford and Swinton constituency

I've yet to make public my opinion of the Boundary Commission's proposed changes to parliamentary constituencies as these would affect the City of Salford. Read on...

If the current Parliament lasts for a full five year term then the next General Election will take place in 2015, by which time the Boundary Commission will have significantly reduced the number of constituencies. This is happening come what may: there will be fewer constituencies in future. Furthermore, nobody should delude themselves into thinking that the Boundary Commission's proposals as they currently stand in regard of constituency boundaries will not largely be implemented without modification across the country. There is more scope for persuading the Boundary Commission about the names of new constituencies, but getting the Boundary Commission to budge much on its preferred boundaries is highly unlikely.

It is therefore more probable than not that the current Boundary Commission proposals regarding the geographical territory of the City of Salford will be implemented without any alteration as regards new constituency boundaries. If that is the case, the existing Salford and Eccles constituency and Worsley and Eccles South constituency will be abolished and the City of Salford patch will be split between four constituencies, only one of which will be wholly situated upon City of Salford turf - namely the proposed new Swinton constituency.

So what is my opinion on the matter?

I take what I believe is a very pragmatic view. I believe the proposed changes are more likely to happen than not and I have no great objection to them, given that the Boundary Commission has no option other than to slash the current number of parliamentary seats.

I believe changing parliamentary boundaries will not have any damaging impact upon how Salford City Council currently operates. The Labour Party will continue to dominate and run Salford City Council. Parliamentary changes will not alter the council's budget or how it is run. Salford City Council will continue to be run in the best interests of the Labour Party so there will be no change there.

Changing the parliamentary boundaries might well make it a little harder for the Labour Party to retain Labour domination over the parliamentary representation of the City of Salford's turf, as is currently the case. New constituency boundaries do raise the genuine possibility of a non-Labour MP representing some portion of City of Salford turf.

Obviously Labour doesn't want anything to happen which might jeopardise its iron grip over the City of Salford. Labour is very happy with the status quo and doesn't want to change it.

The Salford Advertiser knows which side its bread is buttered on - i.e. pleasing the Labour Party - and hence it is unsurprisingly standing shoulder to shoulder with the Salford Labour Party on this issue. The Salford Advertiser - which, incidentally, is not based in Salford at all - also knows that its primary commercial interest is best served by pitching itself culturally as lowest-common-denominator populist pap, by playing up to Salford's socialist heritage and Salford's feel-sorry-for-ourselves and aren't-we-hard-done-by class war attitudes, and by constantly chanting "Ra Ra Ra We Love Salford!" [despite the reality that there is little to celebrate about much of Salford life] in all it does in order to position itself as the voice of Salford for Salford people [if not by Salford people, that is].

The Liberal Democrats in Salford are now a complete irrelevance and I won't even bother to consider them. As for the Conservative Party in Salford, why are they against the changes? I believe the main reason the Tories are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Labour Party over this is because they believe it would be electoral suicide to be portrayed by the Salford Advertiser and other media as not worshipping and defending the Salford identity. That's despite the probability that the current Boundary Commission proposals will improve Tory prospects at the next General Election.

And put yourself in the shoes of Toryboys Iain Lindley and Matthew Sephton who contested Worsley and Eccles South and Salford and Eccles last time. Both will no doubt be hoping for and can reasonably expect to be approved by the party to reprise their candidacies at the next General Election... but only if those constituencies still exist. Just as much as Labour's Hazel Blears and Barbara Keeley face the prospect of fighting it out to contest a new Swinton constituency, Toryboys Iain Lindley and Matthew Sephton would also have to fight it out, and given their mutual passion for all things LGBT, we can expect that a mega hair-pulling, handbag-swinging slap-fest will ensue behind closed Tory doors if Lindley and Sephton do have to slug it out. [Sephton would probably win that one.]

I have no great objection to the boundaries of the proposed new constituencies. I have some sympathy with those who wish to retain the name of Salford in Parliament, and I think the most sensible and reasonable way to do this would be for the proposed Manchester Central constituency to be named instead as Manchester Central and Salford.

I think the best name for the proposed new Swinton constituency is Swinton (not Salford or anything else) as the lion's share of it will be Swinton (along with Worsley and Eccles).

As to whether I might consider going for the new Swinton constituency, well, it would be tempting to stand for a home turf constituency - but without any of the hardcore 'proper Salford' areas to have to try and win over [a pretty futile challenge for anyone not branded red].

If anywhere in the City of Salford is a potential 'Carvath heartland' it is surely Swinton where I grew up. Certainly I 'have more people' in Swinton, Eccles and Worsley than in other parts of the City of Salford area. Swinton, Eccles and Worsley are where I know the best in the City of Salford. But as I've said before, I'm not committing to anything yet as regards the next General Election, and a pre-requisite for my next time is a suitable war chest.