THE NEW MP for Leyton and Wanstead has criticised Government plans to slash the number of seats in the House of Commons.

The constituency could be merged with a neighbouring seat as part of a raft of new Tory/Lib Dem proposals to reform Westminster.

As one of London's smallest constituencies with around 62,000 voters, Leyton and Wanstead - which was only created in 1997 following a boundary change - would be at particular risk under the scheme.

John Cryer, who replaced Harry Cohen as the seat's Labour MP at the general election, said the plan would simply make members more remote from their constituents.

He said: "Making constituencies bigger is not in the interests of the public.

"You look at the size of the constituencies MEPs have, and no-one even knows who their MEP is.

"Leyton and Wanstead is already not too far away from the Boundary Commission's optimum size for a constituency.

"The other issue is who would choose which constituencies to get rid of? If it was the Government choosing then it isn't hard to guess which ones they would choose - and they wouldn't be Tory or Lib Dem.

"You can't have politicians deciding what should be kept and what shouldn't.

"That's why the Boundary Commission is there, to make sure constituencies are dealt with fairly. It's an independent body so is best placed to decide on constituency sizes."

The plan to cut the number of MPs was announced this week by deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

Other reform proposals included reforming political party funding and MPs expenses and allowing people to make more decisions at local level.