Why are Labour Lords keeping their peers up late?: opposition to the coalition’s plans for fewer MPs and more equal constituencies

The government’s Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill was devised with no consultation by the two coalition parties, marrying together Liberal Democrat demands for a referendum on the Alternative Vote (AV) with Tory plans to equalize constituency sizes and put a stop to their disadvantage viz a viz Labour. But in the House of Lords this lack of consultation on key constitutional changes has now legitimated the first ever serious attempt at a filibuster in the House of Lords by Labour peers trying to force concessions. Ron Johnston explains why redrawing boundaries and cutting the number of MPs has become such a red hot issue.