How are electoral constituencies worked out

A.� It's all decided by the Parliamentary Boundary Commission, a government department. Regular reviews are made to ensure the constituencies contain about the same number of voters. There are four Parliamentary Boundary Commissions in the United Kingdom: one each for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. < xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

�

Q.� So is the size dependent upon results

A.� Absolutely not. The commission is an independent, non-political and totally impartial body. It emphasises that the results of previous elections do not and should not enter considerations when it is deciding their recommendations. Nor does the commission consider the effects of its recommendations on future voting patterns.

�

Q.� So is there a quota of voters

A.� Yes. The electoral quota is the average number of electors in a constituency. It's found by dividing the total number of parliamentary electors in England by the number of constituencies in England. The electoral quota for the general review at February, 2000, was 69,932.

�

Q.� So do parliamentary seats get moved around a lot

A.� No. Redistribution of seats is a rare event in British parliamentary history. Earlier, it was associated with acts that reformed the franchise - for example in 1832, 1868, 1885 and 1918. The great Reform Act (1832) abolished 'rotten boroughs' - constituencies with very few electors - and 'pocket boroughs' - constituencies controlled by a single person or family who owned the land. The redistribution of 1918 aimed for equality of seats, but there was no further redistribution between the wars.

�

Q.� So there were many inequalities

A.� Yes. By 1939, there were 20 constituencies with more than 100,000 electors and 13 with under 30,000� - this was made worse by the movement of the population during the war.

�

Q.� So how was that fixed

A.� In 1942, a departmental committee chaired by Sir Sylvanus Vivian, the registrar-general, recommended permanent boundary commissions to make a general review of constituencies once in the life of every full-term parliament. This became law in 1944. The act demanded the immediate division constituencies of more than 100,000 voters - and these came into effect at the 1945 general election.

�

Q.� But how are the seats split up across Britain

A.� The total of seats shall not be 'substantially greater or fewer than' 613; Scotland' shall not be fewer than 71; Wales shall be at least 35; and Northern Ireland must have between 16 and 18.

�

Q.� So how many are there now

A.� 529 in England, 72 in Scotland, 40 in Wales, 18 in Ireland - a total of 659 for the UK.

��

Q.� Any other peculiarities

A.� Yes. Every constituency must return just one MP; the City of London must be just one constituency and refer to city in its name; constituencies must not cross county or London borough boundaries; and electorates must be as near as possible to the quota. Special geographical considerations must also be noted.

�

Q.� What are they

A.� This refers to 'the size, shape and accessibility' of a constituency. The idea is to avoid large, inaccessible constituencies where the area is mountainous or has a sparse or unevenly distributed electorate. The Boundary Commission quotes the case of the Copeland constituency in Cumbria, where the the Cumbrian Mountains, the Duddon estuary and the Irish Sea were considered compelling reasons for not altering the composition of the constituency which had only 55,548 electors� - when the quota was 69,281.

�

To ask a question about People & Places, click here

By Steve Cunningham