LONDON, May 24 (UPI) -- A restive British electorate is set to sweep away at least half of the House of Commons' 646 members of Parliament in the next elections, a study indicates.
Such a turnover of MPs, brought about by defeat of incumbents, retirements and forced resignations due to the ongoing expenses scandal, would be the biggest clean-out of the Commons since World War II, The Sunday Times of London reported.
The newspaper and Colin Rallings, director of the elections center at Plymouth University, conducted research indicating that about 170 Labor Party MPs will go down to electoral defeat and 55 Conservative Party members will likely retire, even as dozens more MPs from all parties will probably be removed by voters angry with their dubious personal expense reimbursement claims.
"If, as the current polls suggest, the Conservatives were to win the general election with an overall majority of 80 seats, it is likely that fully half of MPs in the new House of Commons will be new, a product both of incumbents being defeated and MPs retiring," Rallings said, adding, "It would be without parallel since 1945."
