Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)
Let me say that the ward does not send Labour councillors to the borough; it elects Liberals, so no particular borough advantage was involved. However, the change respected the views of people about their communities. The real problem with the latter part of the Bill is that it does not do that. It specifically says that unitary authority boundaries—and all the authorities in Berkshire are unitary authorities—shall not be counted as local authority boundaries, so they are absolutely irrelevant. It also says that inconvenience to voters that comes out of the first boundary review shall be discounted by the Boundary Commission.
[Official Report, 6 September 2010, Vol. 515, c. 115.]
Mr Harper
I can assure the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) that the reference in the Bill to “counties”, which she discussed, does include unitary authorities. So the Boundary Commission for England will be able to take into account the boundaries of all the unitary authorities in Berkshire as it draws up new constituency boundaries, subject to the issues relating to parity.
[Official Report, 6 September 2010, Vol. 515, c. 129.]
Letter of correction from Mark Harper:
An error has been identified in the response given to the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) on Second Reading of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill on 6 September 2010.
The correct response should have been: “the reference in the Bill to “counties” does include unitary authorities but not those of Berkshire.”