United Kingdom constituencies
In the United Kingdom (UK), each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one member to the House of Commons.
Within the
- The House of Commons (see Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom)
- The Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions)
- The Senedd (see Senedd constituencies and electoral regions)
- The Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies)
- The London Assembly (see List of London Assembly constituencies)
Between 1921 and 1973 the following body also included members elected by constituencies:
Electoral areas called constituencies were previously used in elections to the European Parliament, prior to the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union (see European Parliament constituency).
In
County constituencies and borough constituencies
House of Commons, Scottish Parliament, Senedd and Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies are designated as either county or borough constituencies, except that in Scotland the term burgh is used instead of borough. Since the advent of universal suffrage, the differences between county and borough constituencies are slight. Formerly (see below) the franchise differed, and there were also county borough and university constituencies.
Borough constituencies are predominantly
In England and Wales, the position of
Elected body | Constituency type | |
---|---|---|
borough/burgh | county | |
House of Commons[5][6] | £7,150 + 5p per elector | £7,150 + 7p per elector |
Northern Ireland Assembly | £5,483 + 4.6p per elector | £5,483 + 6.2p per elector |
Scottish Parliament and Senedd | £5,761 + 4.8p per elector | £5,761 + 6.5p per elector |
For by-elections to any of these bodies, the limit in all constituencies is £100,000.[7][8]
History
In the
Similar distinctions applied in the Irish House of Commons, while the non-university elected members of the Parliament of Scotland were called Shire Commissioners and Burgh Commissioners. After the Acts of Union 1707, Scottish burghs were grouped into districts of burghs in the Parliament of Great Britain, except that Edinburgh was a constituency in its own right. After the Acts of Union 1800, smaller Irish boroughs were disenfranchised, while most others returned only one MP to the United Kingdom Parliament.
The
The
Naming
The
Constituency names are geographic, and "should normally reflect the main population centre(s) contained in the constituency".
House of Commons constituencies
In the
The House of Commons is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Parliament of the United Kingdom, the other being the House of Lords.[13]
See also
- Boundary commissions (United Kingdom)
- Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
- List of former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies
- Constituencies in the next United Kingdom general election
- University constituency
- Number of Westminster MPs
London Assembly constituencies
There are fourteen
Constituency names and boundaries remain now as they were for the first general election of the assembly, in 2000.
The assembly is part of the Greater London Authority and general elections of the assembly are held at the same time as election of the mayor of London.
Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies
There are 18
Each elects five MLAs to the 90 member NI Assembly by means of the single transferable vote system. Assembly Constituency boundaries are identical to their House of Commons equivalents.[14]
The constituencies below are not used for the election of members to the 11
Name | Current boundaries | Name |
---|---|---|
Scottish Parliament constituencies
There are 73 Holyrood constituencies covering
The existing constituencies were created, effectively, for the
In 1999, under the Scotland Act 1998,[19] the expectation was that there would be a permanent link between the boundaries of Holyrood constituencies and those of Westminster constituencies. This link was broken, however, by the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004,[20] which enabled the creation of a new set of Westminster constituencies without change to Holyrood constituencies. The new Westminster boundaries became effective for the 2005 United Kingdom general election.
Senedd constituencies
There are 40 Senedd constituencies covering
The current set of Senedd constituencies is the second to be created. The first was created for the first general election of the National Assembly for Wales, in 1999.
European Parliament constituencies
Before its withdrawal from the European Union in 2020, the United Kingdom elected its Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) through twelve multimember European Parliament constituencies. One, Northern Ireland, used single transferable vote, while the eleven covering Great Britain used the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.
For its first European Parliamentary elections in 1979 Great Britain was divided into a number of single-member first-past-the Post constituencies, matching the way Westminster MPs are elected. Following the decision that all MEPs should be elected by some form of proportional representation, the Labour government passed the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, creating eleven constituencies on Great Britain, which were first used in 1999.[21]
The
References
- ISBN 978-0-10-170322-2, archived from the original(PDF) on 26 July 2011
- ^ "Boundary Commission for Scotland - Maps - UK Parliament constituencies 2005 onwards". Archived from the original on 4 May 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
- ^ Representation of the People Act 1983, Section 24
- ^ Somerset County Council Regulation Committee (1 November 2012). "Appointment of County Returning Officer" (PDF). Somerset County Council. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
- ^ "Representation of the People Act 1983", Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament, vol. 1983, no. 2, pp. 76(2)(a), 8 February 1983, retrieved 4 November 2008
- ^ Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 269 (section 3) The Representation of the People (Variation of Limits of Candidates' Election Expenses) Order 2005 (Coming into force 2005-03-04)
- ^ "Representation of the People Act 1983", Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament, vol. 1983, no. 2, pp. 76(2)(aa), 8 February 1983, retrieved 4 November 2008
- ^ "Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000", Acts of the United Kingdom Parliament, vol. 2000, no. 41, pp. 132(5), 30 November 2000, archived from the original on 14 February 2009, retrieved 4 November 2008
- ^ Tomlins, Thomas Edlyne; Granger, Thomas Colpitts (1835). The Law-dictionary, Explaining the Rise Progress and Present State of the British Law. Vol. II (4th ed.). London. p. 10.
- ^ Welsh Government, Law Wales (3 March 2015). "Historical Timeline of Welsh Law". law.gov.wales. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- ^ [1] page 10, Boundary Commission for England, "A guide to the 2013 Review" Sections 41-44, 'Naming'
- ^ "First Past the Post". Electoral Reform Society. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- ^ "The two-House system". UK Parliament. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- ^ "The Electoral Office of Northern Ireland - EONI". www.eoni.org.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- ^ "Local councils in Northern Ireland". nidirect. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- ^ McGuire, Anne (24 January 2005). "House of Commons Standing Cttee on Delegated Legislation (pt 1)". Hansard. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
- ^ "Houses of Parliament and The Palace of Westminster, City of Westminster - 1226284 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- ^ Macnab, Scott (10 May 2019). "Holyrood voting system 'hard to understand' says top official". The Scotsman. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- ^ Scotland Act 1998, Office of Public Sector Information website Archived July 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004, Office of Public Sector Information website Archived September 2, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Voting System". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
- ^ Gibraltar should join South West for elections to European Parliament, Electoral Commission new release, 28 Aug 2003 Archived December 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine