Farmers need better friends

THERE are very few agricultural constituencies in England today— the growth of towns and suburbs has meant that they dominate the truly rural areas. Once, there were seats all over the country where the farming vote really mattered. In Norfolk, Suffolk and Lincolnshire, the West Country and the Welsh Borders especially, candidates would have to make an effort to woo the country electorate. The House of Commons would always have members seriously interested in farming and able to speak up with authority, but that has changed radically as constituencies are reordered to reflect population changes.

Every eight years, the independent Boundary Commission assesses the parliamentary seats and changes them so that they are roughly the same size. It’s a necessary part of our democratic system and the latest changes will come into force next year, probably just in time for the general election. The commissioners try to create constituencies with a sensible geographic identity and, unlike the US, they are not influenced by party politics. In America, it is the prevailing party that fixes the boundaries and their partiality gave the world the word ‘gerrymandering’. Interestingly, whenever the US proposes a constitution for other countries, it always arranges for the same kind of independent boundary commission that we have in the UK.