Tories must scrap plans to cut Scottish MPs, Gavin says

Gavin Newlands, the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, has today joined calls for the UK Government to abandon its profoundly undemocratic plans to reduce the number of Scottish MPs at Westminster whilst stuffing the House of Lords with more peers.

The House of Lords now has 816 unelected peers, making it the second largest legislative chamber in the world – second only to the National People’s Congress of China which services a population of 1.4 billion.

The Prime Minister has defended his proposals to cut the number of Scottish representatives at Westminster, stating that it is a cost-saving exercise. However, since entering Number 10 in 2010, the Prime Minister has created 244 new peers and it has been reported this week that he plans to create at least another 40.

Gavin Newlands, the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, said:

“The UK Government’s insulting plans to reduce the number of Scotland’s representatives at Westminster is an affront to democracy – the government have absolutely no democratic mandate to diminish Scotland’s voice.

“The Prime Minister’s defence of these proposals are nothing more than bluff and bluster. He claims that cutting the number of MPs is merely a cost-saving measure, meanwhile he continues to stuff the House of Lords with more unelected peers.

“During the dying days of the referendum on independence, the pleas from the Unionist politicians were ‘don’t leave the UK, lead the UK’, and now the government was to diminish Scotland’s voice at Westminster. Let’s be clear: it is Scotland’s voice that should be strengthened and it is the House of Lords that should be abolished.

“The UK Government must scrap these demeaning proposals. The people of Scotland voted to have a stronger voice at Westminster – the government should respect that democratic expression.”