FAQs
Why is the review taking place?
Who
is carrying out the review?
What are Boundary
Commissions?
How many constituencies will there be?
Which
Northern Ireland constituencies will be lost?
What will the electorate
of each constituency be?
What is Rule 7?
Will
any other factors be taken into account?
What is the review timing?
What
is the review process?
Will constituencies be different after this
review?
How are constituencies allocated to each part of the United
Kingdom?
How can I find out more?
What
happens next?
How can I participate?
Must
the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland accept the Commission’s Recommendations?
Will
the 6th review have any effect on NI Assembly constituencies?
Why is the review taking place?
- The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 requires that a review of the boundaries of all Westminster constituencies should take place.
- The Act also introduces significant changes to the number of constituencies the process and the timing of reviews.
Who is carrying out the review?
- The review is being carried out by the 4 parliamentary Boundary Commissions in the United Kingdom, one each for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
What are Boundary Commissions?
- The Commissions are permanent bodies independent of Government. Their role is to keep under review the number, names and boundaries of Parliamentary constituencies and report to the Secretary of State.
- The Speaker of the House of Commons is the Chairman of each of the four Commissions.
- There are three members of the Northern Ireland Commission. The Deputy Chairman, who presides over Commission meetings, is a High Court Judge appointed by the Lord Chief Justice. The Commission's two other members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
How many constituencies will there be?
- There will be 600 constituencies across the United Kingdom, down from the current 650.
- The number of constituencies in each of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is calculated broadly in proportion to their electorates. The result is: England 502, Scotland 52, Wales 30 and Northern Ireland 16.
- This replaces the current constituency numbers of England 533, Scotland 59, Wales 40 and Northern Ireland 18.
- The following “protected” island constituencies are defined in the legislation: Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency, Orkney and Shetland constituency and 2 constituencies for the Isle of Wight.
Which Northern Ireland constituencies will be lost?
- The proposed distribution of constituencies is set out in our Provisional Proposals which we published on 13 September 2011.
What will the electorate of each constituency be?
- A single United Kingdom electoral quota is calculated by taking the United Kingdom parliamentary electorate on 1 December 2010, excluding the islands listed above, and dividing by 596. This gives a figure of 76,641.
- Constituency electorates are to be within 5% of the United Kingdom electoral quota (i.e. no less than 72,810 and no more than 80,473).
- Rule 7 of the 2011 Act, allows Northern Ireland constituencies to deviate from the UK electoral quota in certain specified circumstances.
- Rule 7 applies only to Northern Ireland.
- It permits Northern Ireland constituencies to vary from the UK electoral quota when the NI average electorate differs from the UK quota to such an extent that the ability of the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland to exercise its discretionary powers or to meet the deadline for the submission of its report to the Secretary of State is jeopardised.
- This means that for the 6th review, Northern Ireland constituencies may have a range of between 70,583 and 80,473 registered voters (a slightly lower threshold than for the rest of the UK).
Will any other factors be taken into account?
- We are able to take into account special geographical considerations, ward boundaries, existing constituency boundaries and local ties that would be broken by changes to the constituencies.
- However, these discretionary powers are subject to the requirement to meet the +/-5% electoral parity target.
- The Commission is required to report before 1 October 2013, using the 1 December 2010 electoral register.
- The start of the review was announced on 4 March 2011.
- The review is taking place simultaneously for all parts of the United Kingdom, with the resulting constituencies expected to be used for the next general election.
- Subsequent reviews will take place every 5 years.
- All 4 Boundary Commissions in the United Kingdom liaised at the start of the review to agree the allocation of constituencies.
- On 13 September, we published Provisional Proposals for a 12-week public consultation period ending on 2 December 2012, with representations on the proposals encouraged. The Provisional Proposals are on our website.
- We held public hearings during the consultation to enable oral representations to be made. Details of the public hearings are available on Have your Say
- On 31 January 2012, all Submissions received and the transcripts of the public hearings will be published on our website for a secondary consultation period of 4 weeks. Responses will be accepted up to 27 February 2012.
- We will decide whether to make any amendments to our Provisional Proposals after considering all Submissions and we will publish any resulting Revised Proposals for a further 8-week public consultation.
- We will put the Revised Proposals on our website and make them available at display points around Northern Ireland.
- We may incorporate further amendments to our constituency proposals into our Final Report without further public consultation.
- We must submit our Final Report to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who is responsible for laying it before Parliament, by 1 October 2013.
Will constituencies be different after this review?
- In our Provisional proposals, we concluded that incremental changes (i.e. the transfer of seven or fewer electoral wards) would be required in nine existing constituencies: Belfast North; Fermanagh and South Tyrone; Foyle; Lagan Valley; Newry and Armagh; North Down; South Antrim; South Down; and Upper Bann. In other places more substantial changes would be needed.
How are constituencies allocated to each part of the United Kingdom?
- Constituencies are allocated broadly in proportion to the electorate of each of the 4 parts of the United Kingdom, using the Sainte-Laguë method. The legislation sets out the calculation steps.
- The two Scottish island constituencies and the 2 Isle of Wight constituencies are not included in the constituency allocation process.
- We will update the website with all information about the review as it becomes available.
- We will also issue News Releases at key stages of the review.
- We published Provisional Proposals for the 16 new Northern Ireland constituencies on 13 September 2011 and invited representations.
- All representations received and the transcripts of the public hearings will be published for public scrutiny on 31 January 2012 for a secondary consultation period of 4 weeks. Responses will be accepted up to 27 February 2012. The Submissions and Transcripts are available on our website.
- Comment during the public consultation stages. The secondary consultation stage, on the responses already received, began on 31 January and will finish on 27 February 2012.
- For more information please go to have your say.
- Keep an eye on our website to keep track of the review.
Must the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland accept the Commission’s Recommendations?
- Under the 2011 Act, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland may only make modifications to a Commission’s report at the request of the Commission accompanied by a statement of the reasons for the modifications requested.
Will the 6th review have any effect on NI Assembly constituencies?
- Section 33 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides that the boundaries of the Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies are the same as the Parliamentary constituencies, with each constituency returning 6 Assembly members.
- Unless the legislation is amended, the change to the number of parliamentary constituencies will affect the number of Northern Ireland Assembly seats at the 2015 Assembly election.
