Recently, the Oxford Mail was kind enough to publish my letter on the tactic of gerrymandering.
David Cameron has previously proposed an interesting variation – to reduce the number of constituencies and therefore to enlarge them without reforming the electoral system.
The aim and consequence of this proposal is to render isolated seats (eg a lone Labour seat in a Tory dominated region and vice versa) vulnerable to incorporation into one or more of the new larger constituencies.
This won’t matter to the two main parties, because of the swings and roundabouts effect.
On the other hand, the real target will be existing Lib Dem seats, every one of which is isolated and thus subject to elimination under the proposed system.
The result will be the perpetuation of the two-party first-past-the-post system.
In other words, it will be the affirmation of what Lord Hailsham once described as “an electoral dictatorship”.
It will also be an example of the very worst form of political cynicism.
G L Samson,
Preston Road,
Abingdon
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