Could Kingswood's new Tory MP Chris Skidmore lose his seat under voting reform?

By BeckyFeather | Tuesday, July 06, 2010, 20:17

The Tory-held seat of Kingswood is said to be "highly vulnerable" under the voting system shake-up that the new Coalition Government is putting out to a public referendum.

Chris Skidmore, MP for Kingswood - deemed a highly vulnerable seat for the Tories under AV

Leading Tory Douglas Carswell, MP for Clacton and an advocate of political reform, has today published new analysis from the Electoral Reform Society which lists the Conservative MPs it thinks wouldn’t have made it to the House of Commons this time if an alternative voting (AV) system had been in place.

With AV, voters list their preference for MP in order, rather than just selecting one, a system traditionally assumed to favour the Lib Dems.

The Electoral Reform Society study suggests AV would have cost the Conservatives 25 seats and gained the Lib Dems 22.

It lists a further 78 Tory MPs who would have been highly vulnerable as they each had less than 45 per cent of the vote in May - and they include Kingswood's new MP Chris Skidmore, as well as Jack Lopresti, who won the new Filton and Bradley Stoke seat, which covers Downend and Staple Hill.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has confirmed that the public will get to choose whether to change from the first-past-the-post system to alternative vote (AV) on May 5, 2011.

Let us know what you think about the alternative vote.

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Comments

Yeah really strange why they mess about with these areas, i'm sure there are underhand reasoning behind it but it does seem odd. Some areas as you said are now worse off then before.

By king1and at 19:50 on 07/07/10
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Hi King1and,

I can only speak for Fishponds but if Frome Vale and Hillfields were two out of four of these areas then Frome Vale is always Conservative and Hillfields traditionally Labour so they cancel each other out.. however Hillfields is fast becoming Lib Dem.

I'm not convinced that Mr Berry would have won in Hillfields if the changes hadn't gone ahead, lots of people weren't happy with his £250 toaster.. but they are very happy with his lead of disabilities.. which is super to hear that Chris is carrying on with what Roger started.

Unfortunately upper Fishponds is now kind of all alone in the world, sharing Kingswood's values but being run from lower St George and Brislington...

By Richard2004 at 19:07 on 07/07/10
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Just to add to your comment Richard, it was very hard for Roger to win Kingswood again due to the boundary changes, for instance, he lost 4 Labour areas and gained 3 tory and 2 Lib/dem areas and with his majority of 8 or so thousand there really wasn't a chance. Roger's only, 'scandal' was ordering a £1k toaster which was over the top but hardly his downfall.

By king1and at 17:10 on 07/07/10
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I don't think it'll make much difference to Chris's seat, he took on a very strong and well respected Roger Berry to secure this seat following a lot of local changes to the Kingswood political map plus Roger Berry being exposed in the expenses scandal.

Chris has started his new career very well, he has kept us all in the loop from day one, he's going to carry on with Mr Berry's leading roles with disabilities and he listens to all local concerns, issues and campaigns.

This wasn't an easy seat to win but if Chris spends the next 5 years with this optimism, passion and community interest then he'll surely win in 2015 with a landslide victory!

Well done Chris, keep up the excellent work.

By Richard2004 at 14:10 on 07/07/10
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Certainly far, far better then the current system. I hope anyone with a brain will vote for it on May 5th. I'm sure the tories will throw everything but the kitchen sink at the voters to try and get us to vote against it, roll on 2011.

By king1and at 00:07 on 07/07/10
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