The Government has been warned not to rush through plans which would reduce the number of MPs across West Yorkshire because of the low registration of voters in Bradford.

There are concerns proposals to equalise all constituencies within five per cent of each other would be disproportionate across the district if many of the residents were not registered.

Under plans going through Parliament the number of MPs would be cut from 650 to 600 by the 2015 general election with constituencies of around 75,000 voters created.

No formal boundary proposals have been produced as yet but analysis by the Telegraph & Argus show Bradford could be hit across the region as the five seats of Bradford West, Bradford South, Bradford East, Keighley and Shipley are among the smallest in West Yorkshire.

One constituency would disappear in West Yorkshire taking the number from 15 to 14 based on the 1.072 million voters registered.

A debate in the House of Lords warned of the low registration in Bradford and criticised the plans to push through the proposals before the next election.

Baroness Thornton of Manningham told a Lords debate the problem was especially bad in Manningham.

She said: “If the electoral roll is to be frozen as at 2010, how much more inaccurate will it be in those areas of the greatest vulnerability by 2015? We know that more than three million people are not on the electoral roll.

“How many more voters would the coalition Government find it acceptable not to appear on the electoral roll by 2015? I think that the Minister needs to answer those questions, given that millions of people – young people, ethnic minorities and people who live in rented accommodation in areas of high density – will in effect be disfranchised by the Government’s proposals.”

Bradford West has the smallest electorate across the Bradford district at 60,658 and Shipley the biggest at 67,489.

Bradford West MP Marsha Singh said: “The Labour group in Bradford has complained for many years about this and now the council is Labour-led it should get its finger out and sort out voter registration before it is too late.

These figures are on people registered to vote not population and if the Council did its job properly and got people on the register the number would be significantly more.

“In Bradford West the number is low because of a lack of registration and also I have a young population so what will happen when that is factored in? We need to look at future demographics.”

If the number of seats is cut to 14 across West Yorkshire, it would trigger musical chairs among existing MPs to avoid being left without a seat.

According to the Electoral Commission, 3.5 million people who are entitled to vote are not currently registered and will be excluded from the calculations of new boundaries.

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