EXETER and a number of other parliamentary seats in Devon could escape a planned Government shake-up to equalise the size of Westminster constituencies.

The coalition Government wants to introduce legislation for a series of electoral reforms.

It wants to hold a referendum next May on changing the Westminster voting system from first past the post to the Alternative Vote (AV), where candidates are ranked in order of preference.

The coalition's Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill — a key component of the coalition deal between the Conservatives and Lib Dems — also includes proposals to shrink the number of MPs from 650 to 600 and to create constituencies of equal size across the UK.

New constituencies would be set within five per cent of a target quota of registered voters.

This has been put at 75,000.

This means that those seats with fewer than 71,500 voters or more than 78,800 are set to see their boundaries redrawn as part of any review. Exeter and a number of other seats fall within that range and won't therefore be affected.

Only Newton Abbot has an electoral shortfall with 69,406 registered voters, while Exeter had 75,936, East Devon 72,754, Tiverton and Honiton 76,717, and Central Devon 71,089.

The Conservatives complain the current boundaries require them to win more votes than Labour because on average Tory seats have more constituents.