Memorandum submitted by the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office
BERMUDA: CONSTITUENCY BOUNDARIES COMMISSION
REPORT
Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, 29 November 2002
We agreed to send to you Orders in Council relating
to amendments to the constitutions of the Overseas Territories.
I am now copying to you a draft Order in Council which would implement
the recommendations of the Bermuda Constituency Boundaries Commission
report. This has been sent to the Premier and the Leader of the
Opposition in Bermuda. Arrangements have also been made for it
to be published in Bermuda's Royal Gazette newspaper to ensure
the widest possible circulation of the draft locally.
The background is as follows. The Government
of Bermuda following a commitment in its 1998 party election manifesto,
sought the UK Government's agreement in 2000 to take forward their
proposal to introduce single member constituencies in place of
the existing 20 two-member constituencies for elections to the
Bermuda House of Assembly. After consultations in Bermuda, the
Bermuda Constitution (Amendment) Order 2001[3]set
up a Constituency Boundaries Commission to make recommendations
to the Governor on the number, being no fewer than twenty nor
greater than forty, and boundaries of constituencies into which
Bermuda should be divided, with each such constituency returning
one member to the House of Assembly. The 2001 Order also required
the Governor to transmit to the Secretary of State the report
of the Commission, together with the record of any debate in the
House of Assembly on that report including, any motion approved
by the House in relation to the report.
The Constituency Boundaries Commission reported
at the end of August 2002, and a copy of its report has been placed
in the Libraries of both Houses of Parliament. The Commission
unanimously recommended the division of Bermuda into thirty-six
single member constituencies, and set out the recommended names
and boundaries of those constituencies. The House of Assembly
debated the report on 11 October 2002, and passed a motion approving
the report. In accordance with the 2001 Order, the Governor forwarded
to the Secretary of State the Commission's report, the record
of the House of Assembly debate on the report, and the motion
passed by the House
The Foreign Secretary is now minded to recommend
to Her Majesty in Council, in January 2003, the enclosed draft
Order in Council[4]to
amend the Constitution of Bermuda to give legal effect to the
Commission's recommendations.
In summary, the draft Order would amend the
Constitution—
(c)
to establish the 36 new constituencies recommended
by the Commission, subject to a power by the Governor, in accordance
with section 54 of the Constitution, to alter the names and boundaries
of those Constituencies following review by a future Constituency
Boundaries Commission: see sections 4 and 7 and the Schedule.
Any future change to the number of constituencies,
and thus to the number of members of the House of Assembly, would
however require a further Order in Council amending the Constitution.
The draft Order would also amend the Constitution
as regards future Constituency Boundaries Commissions:
(a)
to maintain the current requirement for such Commissions
to be established each three to seven years: see section 5;
(b)
to preserve the requirement applied to the last Commission
that future Commissions must invite views from members of the
public: see section 5;
(d)
to maintain for future Commissions the criteria which
the last Commission was required to apply with a view to ensuring
, so far as practicable, constituencies of equal size: see section
6.
In consequence, having preserved for the future
the relevant provisions of section 2 of the Bermuda Constitution
(Amendment) Order 2001 (which established the last Commission),
that section would be revoked: see section 2.
Because they would be inconsistent with the
current composition of the House of Assembly, sections 3, 4 and
7 of the draft Order, and the Schedule, would come into force
upon the next dissolution of the Bermuda Legislature. The next
general election would take place using the new 36 constituencies,
each returning one member to the House of Assembly. The other
provisions of the draft Order would come into force earlier (about
a month after the Order was made). Section 1(4) of the draft Order
would so provide. In case Bermuda legislation should be required
to make anticipatory provision for elections from single-member
constituencies, section 9 of the draft Order would enable this.
The draft Order would also take the opportunity
to tidy up some (unrelated) outdated references in the Constitution
to bring them into line with changes made by the Bermuda Constitution
(Amendment) Order 2001: see section 8.
I am copying this letter and draft Order in
Council to interested peers and have made arrangements for it
to be laid in the libraries of both Houses.
Baroness Amos
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign and
Commonwealth Office
November 2002
3 Statutory Instrument 2001 2579: http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2001/20012579.htm Back
4
Statutory Instrument 2003 456: http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2003/20030456.htm Back
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