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The revised proposed new parliamentary boundaries for Luton and the rest of Bedfordshire
No comments on The revised proposed new parliamentary boundaries for Luton and the rest of BedfordshireAs mentioned in my previous post I have finally got around to looking at the Boundary Commission’s revised proposals for their review of parliamentary constituencies for England. I appreciate that this is something of an academic exercise given that the row within the Coalition Government over House of Lords reform has resulted in a situation where Parliament is unlikely to approve these proposals. However, here are the details for the record. The initial proposals for…
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Fear and loathing in southern Bedfordshire
I had meant to post some more stuff here over the last couple of weeks but the reason why I have failed, other than being generally busy, was that I decided to write a quick post about the Boundary Commission’s revised recommendations for changing the parliamentary boundaries for Luton and the rest of Bedfordshire. This was not a quick post. In researching and writing it up I rather got lost in the subject. Which is…
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Margaret Moran on trial – sort of
One of the things that I have regularly featured on this blog over the years is the disgrace of former Luton South MP Margaret Moran whose political career went up in flames when she was accused of a wholesale fiddling of her expenses. That accusation finally went to trail last week at Southwark Crown Court. Although it is a pretty unusual trail. Moran cannot be found guilty as she has been declared ‘unfit to plead’…
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Boundary Commission to hold public hearings in Luton on Monday and Tuesday
I’ve blogged here about my reactions to the proposed new parliamentary boundaries for Luton that were published in September and written in detail about the proposed new seats of Luton South and Luton North and Dunstable. Those interested in these changes should be aware that the Boundary Commission is planning to hold public hearings in Luton on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 November at Luton Town Hall. This is your chance to have your say…
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Margaret Moran in court
As I previewed a while ago disgraced former Luton South MP Margaret Moran appeared in front of City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court today to face 21 charges of fraud and forgery related to her for parliamentary expenses. She is next due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on October 28. There has been no indication whether she will plead guilty or innocent when she does so. Here are some press reports: Ex-Luton MP Margaret Moran…
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The proposed new Luton South constituency
On Monday 12 September the Boundary Commission for England released it’s proposed changes to parliamentary constituency boundaries for Bedfordshire. The proposed new constituency of Luton South would be made up of the following council wards (all within Luton Borough): Barnfield Biscot Crawley Dallow Farley High Town Round Green Saints South Stopsley Wigmore Having looked again at this I will stand by my initial reaction to the proposed new Luton South constituency. If implemented these changes…
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The proposed new parliamentary boundaries for Luton
Yesterday the Boundary Commission for England released it’s proposed changes to parliamentary constituency boundaries. The headlines for Luton are: Luton South loses the parts of Central Beds (the village of Caddington and the surrounding area) it currently has to a Hemel Hempstead seat. It gains from Luton North the two wards of Barnfield and Saints. Luton North loses those wards but gains the four Central Bedfordshire wards that contain the town of Dunstable. It is…
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Margaret Moran to face 21 expenses charges
This blog has often in the past talked about the scandal surrounding former Luton South MP Margaret Moran and her parliamentary expenses. Today it was announced by the Director of Public Prosecutions that she will face 21 charges for allegedly claiming parliamentary expenses illegally when she appears in front of City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on the 19 September. She will face 15 charges of false accounting and 6 charges of forgery. The BBC has…
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What does the constituency boundary review mean for Luton?
As part of the negotiations that led to the formation of the current coalition government it was agreed, on the insistence of the Conservatives, that the new government would legislate to reduce the number of members of Parliament from 650 to 600. This was to be accompanied by a review of the boundaries of each parliamentary constituency across the UK with the intention for, as far as possible, each constituency to have the same size…
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Last year’s astroturfing of Luton South
I’m catching up on various bits of unfinished business. One of which is to look back at a little incident from the campaign in Luton South during last year’s general election. Just before polling day for I asked on this blog the question “Is someone using Twitter for dirty tricks in Luton South?“. This referred to the use of a Twitter account named ‘lutonliberal‘, by someone we in the local party had never heard of,…
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Luton South is now Lib Dem target 56
Luton South would be Liberal Democrat target seat number 56 at the next General Election. Paul Walter has pulled together the list of the new target seats for the Liberal Democrats ranked by the percentage point difference between the party’s percentage of the vote, and that of the winner. http://liberalburblings.co.uk/2010/05/the-new-liberal-democrats-target-seat-list/ According to this list the constituencies in Bedfordshire come in the following order: Luton South is 56 Bedford is 135 Bedfordshire Mid 300 Bedfordshire South…
