The Boundary Commission for England that has just redrawn House of Commons seats may say it sought ‘to respect' the pre-existing boundaries of local authority. Instead, it seems to have ended up putting local government in its place: unimportant, irrelevant and entirely secondary to the main business, Westminster.

To be fair to the commission (changes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are being organised separately) all it has done is apply the calculus given it by David Cameron to constituencies in England.