The battle over plans to re-draw the political map of Birmingham has heated up after the Labour MP for Erdington rejected proposals from his own party.

Kingstanding ward must remain part of the Erdington constituency, said MP Jack Dromey.

He has vowed to fight against plans published by the Boundary Commission to re-draw the boundaries of the Sutton Coldfield constituency to include the Kingstanding ward, as part of dramatic reforms which would cut the number of MPs in Birmingham from ten to nine.

At the same time, the ward of Sutton New Hall, currently included in the Sutton Coldfield constituency, would be included in the new Erdington constituency.

But the Labour Party has now drawn up alternative proposals – which would place Kingstanding in a revised Perry Barr constituency.

The Labour proposals would retain ten MPs in Birmingham, although this would be achieved by including some wards currently in the Meriden constituency to make up the numbers in a Birmingham seat.

Labour has not formally published its proposals and will present them to the Boundary Commission at a consultation next week.

Mr Dromey said: “The unnecessary proposal to swap Kingstanding and Sutton New Hall has caused dismay in both communities.

"The people of Kingstanding do not want to transfer to Sutton. As their Member of Parliament, I support their wish to remain in Erdington.

"My view is that Members of Parliament should stick up for the people who elect them and that is precisely what I intend to do.
“The national Labour Party proposals seek to make sense of what everyone in Birmingham believes are fundamentally flawed proposals for our great city, with Kingstanding returning to Perry Barr which it was part of until 1997.

"The clear preference of the people of Kingstanding is, however, to remain in Erdington.”

Conservatives are also divided over the plans, with the party as a whole backing the Boundary Commission’s proposals even though Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell argues that Sutton New Hall should remain part of Sutton Coldfield constituency.