Cameron's cull of region's Westminster seats 'to be dropped'

David Cameron is poised to abandon a pledge to cut the number of constituencies across the UK by 50, because his small majority makes backbench opposition too risky.

The proposal – blocked by the Liberal Democrats in the last parliament – would probably have cut the number of seats in the North-East seat from 29 to 26.

An original Boundary Commission blueprint would have created an enormous constituency, stretching from Teesdale to Northumberland, and another linking Yarm and Newton Aycliffe.

After protests, the proposals were rewritten – but the surviving plans would still have axed one seat in the south of the region and two in Tyne and Wear.

The Conservative election manifesto vowed to forge ahead with what it described as a “long overdue” reduction to seats, to “make votes of more equal value”.

The party has long complained that the political map has failed to keep pace with voters moving out of the inner-cities, where Labour wins seats with smaller electorates.

But the plan is deeply unpopular on the Tory benches, where many nervous MPs fear for their own seats – and oppose new constituencies that ignore natural boundaries.

Now the influential chairman of the Conservative 1922 backbench committee, Graham Brady, has called for the Commons to remain “at its current size at the moment”.

And one Tory MP used a term to describe attacks on Nato forces in Afghanistan, telling the Financial Times “They want to avoid blue-on-blue action when the Government has just a majority of 12.”

Part of the new Tory thinking is that party can still gain from a “normal” boundary review, which would redraw some seats but leave the total at 650.

That is because such a review would reduce the number of constituencies in Wales, where Labour dominates, as well as in some inner-cities.

The Boundary Commissions are now expected to start that review next year and submit a report to parliament on proposed boundary changes in 2018.