BRADFORD South MP Judith Cummins has urged the Government not to repeat the mistakes of the past when redrawing parliamentary constituencies.

In a debate on the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill, Mrs Cummins discussed the ‘Keep Bradford Bradford’ campaign which was launched in response to the boundaries proposed in 2016.

The initial proposals saw Bradford South divided between four local authorities – Bradford, Leeds, Kirklees and Calderdale. However the final proposals kept a Bradford South constituency.

In the debate, she said: “The initial proposals of [the 2016] review were extremely unsatisfactory for Bradford. They produced constituencies that did not reflect the communities of our area. 

“I have learnt from that experience the value that people place on their constituencies matching in the closest possible way their established community identities.”

Mrs Cummins made several proposals for the new boundary redrawing process including allowing the Boundary Commission to split wards in order to keep communities together and allowing a greater tolerance in the variation of the size of constituencies.

She also raised the potential impact of Covid-19 on the process.

The current proposal is to use this year’s electoral register as the basis of new constituency, but this is likely to be incomplete due to the coronavirus crisis and the cancellation of local elections. Judith is shortly due to bring a 10 Minute Rule Bill to Parliament to call for automatic voter registration.

Mrs Cummins urged Government to  “give the Boundary Commission the tools it needs to produce constituencies of approximately equal size that, crucially, keep communities together within coherent boundaries. I believe the measures I have referred to would improve the Bill and produce a more democratic process for all". 

Speaking after the debate, she said: “During the last boundary review process many of my constituents were rightly outraged that the Bradford South constituency was initially to be torn apart.

"There was an extremely well supported local campaign to ‘Keep Bradford Bradford’. Thankfully the Boundary Commission listened to people and revised the proposals to keep a Bradford South constituency. I am urging the Government to reform the process so our community cannot once again be divided in this way.”