1 Introduction
1. There are currently 650 parliamentary constituencies
in the United Kingdom, each returning, following a parliamentary
election, one Member of Parliament to represent them at the House
of Commons. The legislation governing the distribution of parliamentary
constituencies and the variation in the number of MPs is the Parliamentary
Constituencies Act 1986, as amended.[1]
2. Reviews of parliamentary constituency boundaries
are conducted by Boundary Commissions—one each for England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Commissions are independent,
non-departmental public bodies, established by statute. They propose
new parliamentary constituency boundaries in accordance with the
rules set out by Parliament, and these proposals then have to
be approved by both the House of Commons and House of Lords before
new boundaries come into effect.
3. In 2011 the rules governing the distribution of
parliamentary constituencies were changed substantially, following
enactment of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies
Act 2011. The most significant changes made by this Act were:
· That
the number of parliamentary constituencies would be reduced from
650 to 600;
· That in future
the size of parliamentary constituency electorates would, with
four exceptions,[2] have
to fall within +/- 5% of the average number of electors for a
UK constituency; and
· That reviews
of parliamentary constituency boundaries would henceforth occur
once every five years.
The 2011 Act required the Boundary Commissions to
recommend new parliamentary constituency boundaries by October
2013, with a view to changes being made ahead of the 2015 general
election. The four Boundary Commissions launched a review of parliamentary
constituency boundaries in March 2011 (hereafter referred to as
the 2013 Review). The Commissions brought forward proposals for
new parliamentary constituencies but the review was postponed
until after the 2015 general election. The postponement was a
result of provisions in the Electoral Registration and Administration
Act 2013 moving the date by which the Boundary Commissions had
to report. As a result of the review's postponement, parliamentary
constituency boundaries for the 2015 general election will remain
the same as they were for the 2010 general election. The next
review of parliamentary constituency boundaries is expected to
begin in 2016, with recommendations for new parliamentary constituencies
being made by October 2018, which could then be given effect ahead
of the 2020 general election.
Our inquiry
4. In July 2014 we launched an inquiry to consider
the new rules, as set out in the Parliamentary Voting System and
Constituencies Act 2011, for redrawing parliamentary constituency
boundaries, and the experience of the 2013 Review, with a view
to considering whether any changes to the rules were necessary
ahead of the next boundary review. The full terms of reference
for our inquiry are annexed to this Report.[3]
1 Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 Back
2
The exceptions are the Isle of Wight, which would have two constituencies,
a constituency for Orkney and Shetland and a constituency for
Na h-Eileanan an Iar. Back
3
Annex - terms of reference. Back
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