Search Legislation

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011

Status:

This is the original version (as it was originally enacted).

11Number and distribution of seats

This section has no associated Explanatory Notes

(1)For Schedule 2 to the 1986 Act there is substituted—

Section 3

SCHEDULE 2Rules for distribution of seats

Number of constituencies

1The number of constituencies in the United Kingdom shall be 600.

Electorate per constituency

2(1)The electorate of any constituency shall be—

(a)no less than 95% of the United Kingdom electoral quota, and

(b)no more than 105% of that quota.

(2)This rule is subject to rules 4(2), 6(3) and 7.

(3)In this Schedule the “United Kingdom electoral quota” means—

where U is the electorate of the United Kingdom minus the electorate of the constituencies mentioned in rule 6.

Allocation of constituencies to parts of the United Kingdom

3(1)Each constituency shall be wholly in one of the four parts of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland).

(2)The number of constituencies in each part of the United Kingdom shall be determined in accordance with the allocation method set out in rule 8.

Area of constituencies

4(1)A constituency shall not have an area of more than 13,000 square kilometres.

(2)A constituency does not have to comply with rule 2(1)(a) if—

(a)it has an area of more than 12,000 square kilometres, and

(b)the Boundary Commission concerned are satisfied that it is not reasonably possible for the constituency to comply with that rule.

Factors

5(1)A Boundary Commission may take into account, if and to such extent as they think fit—

(a)special geographical considerations, including in particular the size, shape and accessibility of a constituency;

(b)local government boundaries as they exist on the most recent ordinary council-election day before the review date;

(c)boundaries of existing constituencies;

(d)any local ties that would be broken by changes in constituencies;

(e)the inconveniences attendant on such changes.

(2)The Boundary Commission for England may take into account, if and to such extent as they think fit, boundaries of the electoral regions specified in Schedule 1 to the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 (ignoring paragraph 2(2) of that Schedule and the references to Gibraltar) as it has effect on the most recent ordinary council-election day before the review date.

(3)This rule has effect subject to rules 2 and 4.

Protected constituencies

6(1)There shall be two constituencies in the Isle of Wight.

(2)There shall continue to be—

(a)a constituency named Orkney and Shetland, comprising the areas of the Orkney Islands Council and the Shetland Islands Council;

(b)a constituency named Na h-Eileanan an Iar, comprising the area of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

(3)Rule 2 does not apply to these constituencies.

Northern Ireland

7(1)In relation to Northern Ireland, sub-paragraph (2) below applies in place of rule 2 where—

(a)the difference between—

(i)the electorate of Northern Ireland, and

(ii)the United Kingdom electoral quota multiplied by the number of seats in Northern Ireland (determined under rule 8),

exceeds one third of the United Kingdom electoral quota, and

(b)the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland consider that having to apply rule 2 would unreasonably impair—

(i)their ability to take into account the factors set out in rule 5(1), or

(ii)their ability to comply with section 3(2) of this Act.

(2)The electorate of any constituency shall be—

(a)no less than whichever is the lesser of—

and 95% of the United Kingdom electoral quota, and

(b)no more than whichever is the greater of—

and 105% of the United Kingdom electoral quota,

where—

  • N is the electorate of Northern Ireland divided by the number of seats in Northern Ireland (determined under rule 8), and

  • A is 5% of the United Kingdom electoral quota.

The allocation method

8(1)The allocation method referred to in rule 3(2) is as follows.

(2)The first constituency shall be allocated to the part of the United Kingdom with the greatest electorate.

(3)The second and subsequent constituencies shall be allocated in the same way, except that the electorate of a part of the United Kingdom to which one or more constituencies have already been allocated is to be divided by—

where C is the number of constituencies already allocated to that part.

(4)Where the figure given by sub-paragraph (3) above is the same for two or more parts of the United Kingdom, the part to which a constituency is to be allocated shall be the one with the smaller or smallest actual electorate.

(5)This rule does not apply to the constituencies mentioned in rule 6, and accordingly—

(a)the electorate of England shall be treated for the purposes of this rule as reduced by the electorate of the constituencies mentioned in rule 6(1);

(b)the electorate of Scotland shall be treated for the purposes of this rule as reduced by the electorate of the constituencies mentioned in rule 6(2).

Interpretation

9(1)This rule has effect for the purposes of this Schedule.

(2)The “electorate” of the United Kingdom, or of a part of the United Kingdom or a constituency, is the total number of persons whose names appear on the relevant version of a register of parliamentary electors in respect of addresses in the United Kingdom, or in that part or that constituency.

For this purpose the relevant version of a register is the version that is required by virtue of subsection (1) of section 13 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 to be published no later than the review date, or would be so required but for—

(a)any power under that section to prescribe a later date, or

(b)subsection (1A) of that section.

(3)“Local government boundaries” are—

(a)in England, the boundaries of counties and their electoral divisions, districts and their wards, London boroughs and their wards and the City of London,

(b)in Wales, the boundaries of counties, county boroughs, electoral divisions, communities and community wards,

(c)in Scotland, the boundaries of local government areas and the electoral wards into which they are divided under section 1 of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, and

(d)in Northern Ireland, the boundaries of wards.

(4)“Ordinary council-election day” is—

(a)in relation to England and Wales, the ordinary day of election of councillors for local government areas;

(b)in relation to Scotland, the day on which the poll is held at ordinary elections of councillors for local government areas;

(c)in relation to Northern Ireland, the day of an election for any district council (other than an election to fill a casual vacancy).

(5)The “review date”, in relation to a report under section 3(1) of this Act that a Boundary Commission is required (by section 3(2)) to submit before a particular date, is two years and ten months before that date.

(6)“The United Kingdom electoral quota” has the meaning given by rule 2(3).

(7)A reference in rule 6 to an area is to the area as it existed on the coming into force of Part 2 of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011.

(2)In the Schedule substituted by subsection (1), rule 5(1)(e) does not apply in relation to a report under section 3(1) of the 1986 Act that a Boundary Commission is required, by subsection (2) of section 3 of that Act as substituted by section 10(3) above, to submit before 1 October 2013.

(3)In Part 4 of Schedule 1 to the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 (offices disqualifying for particular constituencies)—

(a)in the entry for Member of Her Majesty’s Commission of Lieutenancy for the City of London, for “The constituency comprising the whole of” there is substituted “Any constituency comprising the whole or part of”;

(b)in the entry for Governor of the Isle of Wight, for “The Isle of Wight” there is substituted “Any constituency comprising any part of the Isle of Wight”.

(4)In section 8 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (registration officers), for paragraph (b) of subsection (2) there is substituted—

(b)in relation to any constituency part of which consists of some or all of the area of the City and the Inner and Middle Temples, the Common Council shall appoint an officer to be registration officer for that part of the constituency.

Back to top

Options/Help

Print Options

You have chosen to open The Whole Act

The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.

Would you like to continue?

You have chosen to open The Whole Act as a PDF

The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download.

Would you like to continue?

You have chosen to open the Whole Act

The Whole Act you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.

Would you like to continue?

You have chosen to open Schedules only

The Schedules you have selected contains over 200 provisions and might take some time to download. You may also experience some issues with your browser, such as an alert box that a script is taking a long time to run.

Would you like to continue?

Close

Legislation is available in different versions:

Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.

Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.

Close

See additional information alongside the content

Show Explanatory Notes for Sections: Displays relevant parts of the explanatory notes interweaved within the legislation content.

Close

Opening Options

Different options to open legislation in order to view more content on screen at once

Close

Explanatory Notes

Text created by the government department responsible for the subject matter of the Act to explain what the Act sets out to achieve and to make the Act accessible to readers who are not legally qualified. Explanatory Notes were introduced in 1999 and accompany all Public Acts except Appropriation, Consolidated Fund, Finance and Consolidation Acts.

Close

More Resources

Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:

  • the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy
  • lists of changes made by and/or affecting this legislation item
  • confers power and blanket amendment details
  • all formats of all associated documents
  • correction slips
  • links to related legislation and further information resources
Close

More Resources

Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:

  • the original print PDF of the as enacted version that was used for the print copy
  • correction slips

Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including:

  • lists of changes made by and/or affecting this legislation item
  • confers power and blanket amendment details
  • all formats of all associated documents
  • links to related legislation and further information resources