Turnout impacts the difference somewhat,
A lot actually; have a look at a map of turnout in the 2005 election. There are a couple online IIRC.
Replace rural with commuterland then that's clearly true. But there's no way round that without gerrymandering. Besides, the worst of the imbalance is dealt with every boundary change. Of course, things always shift back to where they were, but it's hardly the boundary commision's fault that people move.
No, the smallest seat in Wales is actually Meirionnydd Nant Conwy.Used to be. Now it's Aberconwy - a Con pickup opportunity.
So would the Tories (Preseli Pembroke). And if the boundaries were drawn in the way that the Scottish ones were, Clwyd West would go also, and maybe even Monmouth.
Actually an inevitable result of abolishing a seat or two in the Valleys would be for parts of the Valleys not in Valleys constituencies to be added to other constituencies; with predictable results.
Besides, the Valleys seats aren't actually much smaller than seats in the rest of Wales; most Welsh seats have electorates in the 50,000's.
Regardless, I'm of the opinion that the Welsh seats are about the right size anyway. 'tis the English and Scottish seats that are the wrong size.
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Care to do a redistricting project with Welsh-size seats everywhere?
