How many members should there be in Parliament?
The British House of Commons currently has 646 seats which will increase to 650 seats at the next General Election (the number varies slightly from time to time to reflect population change). This is a large legislature by international standards. For instance, the House of Representatives in the USA has 435 seats but, of course, each of the 50 US states has its own legislature. The Conservative Party has said that, if it wins the next General Election, it will reduce the number of Commons seats by around 10%.
The Conservatives say that they want to improve efficiency and to reduce the variation in the size of constituencies. Typically a constituency would have around 60,000-80,000 voters, depending mainly on whether it is an urban or rural constituency. However, the largest constituency in the country is the Isle of Wight with 108,253 electors at the last General Election, while the smallest is Na h-Eileanan an Iar (formerly known as the Western Isles) with an electorate of only 21,884.
Two types of seats are likely to be impacted by the Conservative proposals: Welsh seats which could be cut from 40 to 30 and inner city constituencies which tend to be small. In both cases, the reductions would benefit the Conservative Party. But first they have to win under the current structure and then get their Bill through both Houses …