LD peer Lord Oakeshott says if the Tories renege on Lords reform then the new boundaries won”t go through.bbc.in/zmHzhp

— Mike Smithson (@MikeSmithsonOGH) February 26, 2012

LD peer links Lords reform to the boundary changes

Two days ago I suggested that the coalition could collapse over the house of Lords reform programme agreed between the Tories and the Lib Dems in the 2010 coalition agreement.

My post stated that if Tory MPs rebelled then the Lib Dems could pull the plug on the boundary changes which are due to be approved by MPs in the second half of 2013.

In a discussion on the Sunday Politics Lord Oakeshott made that direct threat – see link in tweet above.

The boundary changes are critical to the Tories if they want to secure a majority. In broad terms they bring the threshold down from the current 11% lead to about 7.5%.

@MikeSmithsonOGH