Commenting on the proposed boundary changes, Nia Griffith MP said,
“It has been an honour to represent Llanelli since 2005 and I am very pleased that under these draft proposals the whole of the Llanelli constituency will be kept together, rather than being split up as has happened to other seats.
“The Boundary Commission have done a commendable job within the very stringent criteria; their proposals create the new constituency of Llanelli and Lliw which includes the Llanelli seat together with some areas that are currently part of the Gower and Swansea constituencies, and these plans will now be subject to consultation. Whatever the final makeup of the seat, I look forward to continuing to represent every one of our local communities in Llanelli and the surrounding areas.”
“However I am very concerned that these proposals would severely reduce Wales’ voice in Westminster, with only 29 MPs instead of the current 40. It is hypocritical of the Tories to pretend that reducing the number of MPs from 650 to 600 is anything to do with reducing the cost of politics when during his term of office, the former Prime Minister David Cameron MP created 260 new unelected members of the House of Lords. There is a genuine case for equalising the number of voters per constituency but you also have to think about the difficulties of getting around areas of rural Wales. Also by insisting on using last year’s electoral registers, the government is also ignoring the two million voters who have signed up since then, and selling them short of the representation they deserve.”