Murphy expresses concern over proposed boundary changes
Sinn Féin MLA Conor Murphy has stated that decisions regarding Assembly and local government elections should be transferred from Westminster to locally accountable politicians following the publishing of the initial report on proposed boundary changes by the Boundary Commission.
“Clearly this is a substantial piece of work proposing significant changes and will require a detailed response,” he said.
“Sinn Féin do have concerns regarding the use of data from the December 2015 electoral register as their basis for drawing the new constituencies rather than census data which is standard international practice.
“There are further concerns regarding what impact a Westminster led Boundary Commission will have on Assembly representation with a possibility of a reduction of constituencies to sixteen or less.
Article continues below:
Murphy added, “It is my view that we need to transfer powers on elections to the Assembly and Local Government into the hands of locally elected and accountable representatives and establish a boundary commission to deal exclusively with the Assembly constituencies – as Scotland has already done.”
Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=57586