WHEN Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper promised each other “all that I have I share with you”, they could not have anticipated their wedding vows being interpreted so literally by the Boundary Commission.
But the marriage of this Labour couple may be tested by the publication this week of proposals to abolish the parliamentary constituency of Normanton and incorporate much of it into the neighbouring West Yorkshire seat of Pontefract and Castleford. Mr Balls was selected as Labour’s candidate for Normanton this summer. He then quit as the Treasury’s chief economic adviser, a role so powerful he was known as the Deputy Chancellor, so that he could pursue a high-flying parliamentary career.
Ms Cooper has been MP for the equally safe Labour seat of Pontefract and Castleford since 1997. She is currently a local government minister and on maternity leave after the birth of their third child.
Mr Balls and Ms Cooper are young and phenomenally bright. They are certainties to reach Cabinet rank one day, especially if Gordon Brown, their political patron, becomes Prime Minister.
But the Boundary Commission’s recommendations, due to be implemented after the next election, could yet wreck such hopes. When existing constituencies are scrapped, it is usual practice for the sitting MP to seek selection in one of the neighbouring seats.
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Could Mr Balls end up fighting his wife for her seat? The couple are, understandably, reluctant to comment. A friend said last night: “We are a long way off from that. This is the start of a process.”
There is already talk of an appeal against the commission’s preliminary recommendations. If that fails, Mr Balls may try his luck in Wakefield or Morley and Rothwell, both safe Labour seats.
Those wedding vows made in Eastbourne six years ago were “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, for sickness and in health”. Nobody told them about the difficulties about “having” and “holding” seats in West Yorkshire.