Forestview, Purdy's Lane, Newtownbreda
BELFAST BT8 7AR

ANNOUNCEMENT

RECOMMENDED PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES

The Commission announced Revised Recommendations for constituencies in Northern Ireland on 18 May 2006. They have now carefully considered representations received in response to those proposals.

The representations affect issues already examined at public Local Inquiries which were caused to be held by the Commission and have therefore already been the subject of recommendation by independent assistant Commissioners who conducted those inquiries. The Local Inquiries also provided the opportunity to raise other matters, now the subject of representations, which the Commission have carefully considered but which they have decided do not justify being referred to a further Local Inquiry.

The Commission have therefore decided not to modify their Revised Recommendations and have concluded their Periodical Review of constituencies. The Commission have submitted a report of the Review and their recommendations to the Secretary of State.

The recommendations are that there should continue to be 18 constituencies in Northern Ireland. The number of parliamentary electors in each existing and recommended constituency and their variations from the electoral quota at the outset of the Review are contained in Annex A. The electorates of each recommended constituency on 1 February 2007 taken from the Revised Register of Electors are also shown. Under the recommendations less than 5% of the Northern Ireland parliamentary electorate would transfer constituencies. The recommended constituencies and their constituent local government wards are set out in Annex B. Maps to illustrate the Commission's recommendations are also attached.

The Commission deferred their consideration of revised parliamentary constituency boundaries last November so that they might take account of changes to local government ward boundaries following the recent review by the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner. However, the Northern Ireland Executive has announced a review of the future shape of local government in Northern Ireland. Consequently, the Commission have concluded that they should not delay the submission of their recommendations. Once new ward boundaries are established, the Commission propose to consider whether, exceptionally, to conduct an Interim Review of constituencies.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1. The Commission are an independent and impartial body. The Chairman of the Commission is the Speaker of the House of Commons, the Rt Hon Michael Martin MP. The Deputy Chairman of the Commission is the Hon Mr Justice Coghlin, a Northern Ireland High Court Judge. The other Members of the Commission are Mr Richard Mackenzie, CB and Mrs Joan Ruddock, CBE.
2. The Recommendations have been drawn up in accordance with statutory Rules for Redistribution of Seats. The Commission must base their recommendations on the number of parliamentary electors on the Register of Electors in force on 16 May 2003, the date on which the Commission announced their Review and which became the statutory enumeration date for the purpose of the Review.
3. Annex A shows the number of parliamentary electors in each existing and recommended constituency. Parliamentary electorates of constituencies in Northern Ireland at the outset of the Review on the enumeration date of 16 May 2003 varied from about 17% below to 16% above the electoral quota (columns A). Parliamentary electorates of the recommended constituencies at that date varied from about 10% below to 13% above the electoral quota (columns B). Changes in the distribution of the electorate and the effect of the Commission's recommendations (columns C) would reduce the imbalances in constituency electorates to a range within 10% below and 15% above the electorate average on 1 February 2007.
4. The Report of the Review will be published when it is laid before Parliament by the Secretary of State. Alterations to boundaries of constituencies only take effect at the General Election following the approval by Parliament and the making of an Order.
5. Further information is available on the Commission's website www.boundarycommission.org.uk or by contacting the Secretary to the Commission. Further statistical information on the electorate is available on the website of the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland www.eoni.org.uk.

Annex A

Parliamentary Electorates of Existing and Recommended Constituencies

* The Electoral Quota is calculated by dividing the total number of parliamentary electors in Northern Ireland by the number of existing constituencies on the enumeration date. The total number of parliamentary electors in Northern Ireland on the enumeration date, 16 May 2003, was 1,097,450. The number of constituencies was 18 and the Electoral Quota is therefore 60,969.

# The constituency average electorate is calculated by dividing the total number of parliamentary electors in Northern Ireland by the number of constituencies recommended by the Commission. The total number of parliamentary electors in Northern Ireland on 1 February 2007, the date of the last Revised Register of Electors published on 2 February 2007, was 1,110,817. The number of constituencies recommended is 18 and the constituency average electorate is therefore 61,712.

Annex B

Recommendations

The electorates of the recommended constituencies and of their constituent wards are listed below. The electorate is the number of persons whose names appeared on the register of parliamentary electors in force on the enumeration date for the present Review, 16 May 2003. The figures shown in brackets are the electorates of the recommended constituencies and their wards on 1 February 2007 taken from the Revised Register of Electors.