Tory chiefs to delay key candidate selection due to boundary review

Tory chiefs are delaying selecting candidates for key seats ahead of a push to get a controversial shake-up of constituencies through Parliament.

Theresa May’s allies believe she can win backing for a Boundary Commission review of parliamentary seats that is expected to boost the Conservatives’ chances of winning the 2022 election.

The reforms, which could see the Tories gain a dozen seats, would see the number of MPs cut from 650 to 600. Jeremy Corbyn’s seat in north London is one of those that would disappear.

Conservative Party chairman Brandon Lewis is keen to start selecting parliamentary candidates this summer for the next General Election, as proposed in a review by Sir Eric Pickles.

But Mr Lewis told ConservativeHome: “What I’ve got to resist is selecting in a target seat that may be dramatically impacted in the Boundary Review and then we have to start again. For the sake of a few months there’s not a lot of logic in that.” He said proposals would return to the Commons “later this year”.

The reforms would seek to make all constituencies roughly the same size in terms of population, addressing what is seen as an inbuilt bias towards Labour, whose inner city heartlands tend to have smaller seats.