The imposition of soviet-style ‘one size fits all’ Parliamentary constituencies on the complex organic realities of England is an extraordinarily clumsy and contentious move.

It smacks of moving towards Amercan-style boundary ‘Gerry mandering’, as well as distancing Parliamentary representation from real local communities. From a government supposedly committed to ‘localism’ this is a strange move, to say the least.

Now the realities of what these changes mean have become obvious, the legal changes needed to implement it look to be in severe danger from disgruntled MPs and Peers. Look out for another screeching U-turn in the near future.