THE campaign to save the Parliamentary constituency of the Isle of Wight has won the backing of the Labour Party.

Shadow Justice Secretary Jack Straw, whose previous posts include Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary, told the Daily Echo that coalition plans to carve up the constituency and slash the number of MPs were “undemocratic”.

He spoke out in response to plans announced earlier this month by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600.

The Island is currently home to some 110,000 voters, which means the constituency faces being downsized by 34,000 voters, who would be represented by an MP from the mainland, perhaps the New Forest.

Mr Straw told the Daily Echo: “I’m delighted that the Isle of Wight, alongside other constituencies across the UK, is united in its determination to stop this Bill – which proposes a top-down, undemocratic and partisan distortion of the electoral landscape that undermines community cohesion by elevating rigid mathematics above all other considerations, including natural and historic boundaries.”

The One Wight campaign – with the slogan One Island, One MP, Don’t Divide the Island – is centred around a petition which will be presented to Parliament by Mr Turner on September 6.