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Do you remember how before Cornwall Council everyone was focussed on the logo, and afterwards we discovered that our Children's Services had been failing and we hadn't noticed? I wonder if Dornwall is just like that. Can it really be the most important issue facing the people of Cornwall? Adult Services looks like being decimated, funding for key services under threat, dead communities where all the houses are 2nd homes, churches facing wholescale collapse, rising inequalities of health, an nhs acute trust near to implosion, and the thing we want our elected representatives to be worrying about is pretending that we aren't near Devon.

Least we now know the outcome of the meeting with clegg

It appears you've been taking your cod liver oil and experienced a massive brain cell doubling effect, Mr Smith.
For the less aquatically inclined among us could you please explain your 50-150 transition by way of step by step explanation with detailed reference to the applicability of Mr George's amendment as you proceed?

Isn't his amendment targeted at the situation in Cornwall & Scilly, Mr Smith? How do you manage to extrapolate Mr George's amendment to apply across the board in the UK? Please explain your analysis and figures and how you make them arise from Mr George's proposed amendment in greater detail.

Well, Mr Smith, my guess is there's too much guessing going on.
Have you found out the number of individuals in Cornwall & Scilly, and by logical extrapolation across the UK, would be counted more than once if the quite mad, unethical, and indecent rush to redraw constituency boundaries were to proceed on the back of current unsoundly and undemocratically founded electoral rolls and registers?

(Above post re-worked for greater precision and in response to your new found fish oil induced sparkiness)
Well, Mr Smith, my guess is there's too much guessing going on.
Have you found out the number of multiple property owning and associated individuals across the UK who would be counted more than once if the quite mad, unethical, and indecent rush to redraw constituency boundaries were to proceed on the back of current unsoundly and undemocratically founded electoral rolls and registers? (You could start with all those Westminster MPs registered in constituencies they represent but where they don't live and where they buy up houses for the sake of appearances thereby obtaining multiple constituency multiple electoral roll registrations on the back of multiple property ownership.)
Excluding non-resident multiple house owners entered on electoral rolls in Cornwall & Scilly due to current inequitable and anti-democratic Electoral Law, what is the full time resident voting age population of Cornwall & Scilly and what is the full time resident electoral roll registered population of Cornwall & Scilly?

It's all guesswork still, Graham.
Nobody - not even the Electoral Commission - has a firm and clear understanding of the numbers of the multiply registered and until that is done and each person of voting age is counted only once any attempt to reconfigure constituencies will have no credibility nor foundation in truthful and honest data.
Multiple house owners (why do you persist in using that misleading term 'second home' when, in many cases, more than two apply and a house where you don't live is hardly a 'home'?)are a clear category where the impact on democracy in Cornwall & Scilly through gross proliferation in recent years may be very severe indeed. That needs to both be known and the law changed to require people to register on the electoral roll ONLY where they live and pay 100% Council Tax. Don't you agree?
Student and armed forces registrations also need to come within more democratic, transparent, accountable and enforceable rules.
Is it correct that all armed forces personnel are actually not visible on electoral rolls? Does that also apply to spouses? Surely that doesn't preclude transparent counting and the requirement to be counted as an electoral roll entry in only one constituency?
Would you not also agree that the whole subject of student constituency voting choice needs revisiting now that student numbers and their potential to skew local council and parish council election results is now far and beyond what applied when student choice of which constituency to vote in was introduced.
To illustrate the point let's take an example within The Duchy. As you know there is huge pressure on housing in Falmouth and Penryn due to the Exeter University annexe at Penryn and University College Falmouth offering courses and recruiting students beyond the capacity of housing resources and thereby denying Cornish full time residents what should be a natural and organic entitlement to have first call on residential housing in the area. Whole streets have been commandeered and turned into HMO ghettos populated largely by students. As things now stand a large and concentrated student population suitably motivated can not only marginalise the full time residential community in terms of access to housing but could also be organised to exert undue influence in parish, council and even, possibly,UK General Elections to the further marginalistion, disenfranchisement and disempowerment of the full time residential population.
Clegg & Co should have put a root and branch review and correction of Electoral Law before any attempts to tamper with constituencies and voting systems in order to ensure that every person of voting age is only entitled to register to vote in one constituency, that being the consituency of their primary residence, whether 100% Council Tax liable, Council Tax exempt, Council Tax discounted or by way of ‘declaration of local connection' .
There's a lot of groundwork to be done before we actually have 'One Person - One Vote' democracy right here in the UK. Don't you agree?
A long overdue National Electoral Roll would enable the avoidance of multiple registration and de-duplication that has arisen, whether by accident, ignorance or attempted fraudulent election gerrymandering and whether individual or collectively orchestrated.
As you no doubt are aware electoral rolls are currently only constructed and 'held at your local electoral registration office'. As you know from your dealings with Cornwall Council Chief Executive and Election Returning Officer Kevin Lavery, it is a challenge indeed - and claimed uneconomic - for any Election Returning Officer to properly scrutinise multiple electoral rolls in order to detect and disqualify multiple voting. AND THUS IMPOSSIBLE TO SIGN OFF ANY ELECTION AS VERIFIABLY 'FREE AND FAIR'. A totally unacceptable situation don't you agree?

Helpful resources for your readers:

Do you have a definitive and comprehensively accurate answer to this suggested public interest enquiry above yet, Mr Smith?:

'How many Westminster MPs are registered in constituencies they represent but where they don't live and where they buy up houses for the sake of appearances thereby obtaining multiple constituency multiple electoral roll registrations on the back of multiple property ownership?'

Cameron Confirmatory:

In post 11 above this:
'A long overdue National Electoral Roll would enable the avoidance of multiple registration and de-duplication that has arisen, whether by accident, ignorance or attempted fraudulent election gerrymandering and whether individual or collectively orchestrated.'
Should have read:
'A long overdue single UK Electoral Roll would enable the avoidance of multiple voter registrations and the de-duplication of multiple electoral roll entries wherever they arise whether by accident, ignorance or attempted fraudulent election gerrymandering by individuals or collective orchestration by particular interest groups.'

PS Pity you don't have a post post edit facility to enable amendment/correction without clutter!

Whatever happened to succinct meaningful observations?

Too much free time me feels the boy needs a hobby

500 MP's still seems too many

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I hear we are having a referendum on Christmas and the turkeys might vote against it. The system looks after the system so long as the liberals are seen to try and make changes that is all that matters

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Cornwall Council in empty homes strategy

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- I wonder why Andrew's amendment didn't also address the issue of second home voters? -

I suspect because the vast majority of MPs are second home owners

Well spotted, Peter!

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