Jeremy Corbyn's Islington North seat to be abolished in boundary shake-up

EXCLUSIVE: Labour leader's seat of Islington North will cease to exist under new plans
A brand new seat called simply Islington is set to be created
Jeremy Selwyn
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Jeremy Corbyn’s current seat in Parliament is to be abolished under revised boundary plans being published tomorrow, the Evening Standard can reveal.

His constituency of Islington North will cease to exist if the Boundary Commission proposals go ahead - triggering musical chairs as he and other top Labour figures scramble for seats in the Commons.

A brand new seat called simply Islington will be created, largely based on the current constituency of Islington South & Finsbury, held by his shadow cabinet colleague Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary.

Mr Corbyn is likely to lay claim to another new seat, carved from chunks of Mr Corbyn’s seat and that of Diane Abbott, to be called Finsbury Park and Stoke Newington.

That in turn leaves powerful shadow home secretary Ms Abbott battling against neighbouring Labour MP Meg Hillier for another new seat, Hackney Central, which straddles parts of their existing seats.

A source commented drily: “There will only be one winner in that one-sided selection contest. Meg needs a new lifeboat.”

Ms Hillier is MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch and chair of the powerful Public Accounts Committee.

Leaked details of the London review have been seen by the Standard ahead of their official publication tomorrow.

A big winner is David Lammy, the Tottenham MP, who has fought a successful battle to preserve his constituency.

Rivals in Labour had tried to have it carved up to ensure the party’s leadership all had safe seats at the end of the shake-up.

Overall the plans will cut London’s tally of MPs from 73 MPs to 68. It is part of a review set in motion by David Cameron to whittle down the overall size of the Commons from 650 MPs to just 600.

But most MPs think the laboriously drafted new map will be sunk when put to a vote next year, after Theresa May lost her majority in the election.

Key questions are whether the Democratic Unionist Party have managed to argue successfully against plans that would have cut their tally of seats.

Another big question is whether Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary tipped as a future Tory leader, has improved her prospects of keeping her Hastings seat. Her slim majority currently counts against her leadership claims in the eyes of some Tories.

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