UK constituency boundaries and names

Factual Questions
1

One ancillary question on the UK elections.

In the UK elections it seems that most constituencies have very specific regional identity e.g. Dover, Falkirk and also “Crewe and Nantwich”, “Ellesmere Port and Neston”, “Knowsley North and Sefton East”.

[Speaker of the House]
Order! Order!
The Member for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey will withdraw their comments about the relationship between the Member for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East’s mother and the Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle … and could somebody bring my teeth back please."
[/Speaker of the House] :smiley:

However does this also mean that the constituency boundaries are essentially fixed based on local government borders? Consequently do the enrolments vary substantially between constituencies and over time?

Or is it a consequence of voters being allowed to vote in one of possibly several constituencies that they have residential entitlement and hence you don’t actually know how many eligible voters are in a constituency?

In Australia the Electoral Commission redistribute the boundaries within each state to keep the number of voters in each electorate within reasonably tightly defined limits. This happens every seven years or sooner (if 1/3rd of the electorates are outside 10% variance from the state average.).

The consequence of this is that the electorates move and can become disconneted with their nameplace. For example there was once a electorate named Grafton, centred on town of Grafton, but eventually the electorate moved to the point where Grafton was not in Grafton.

To get around that as they are created new electorate names take on non-regional names, usually something connected with historical or political figures e.g. Banks, Barton, Benelong, Blaxland, Bradfield etc.

The town of Grafton is now in the electorage of Page (named after Earle Christmas Grafton Page who was Prime Minister for 20 days in April 1939 after Joe Lyons died in office)

2

There are four Boundary Commissions, one each in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. Every 8-12 years, they’re supposed to review and redraw all the constituencies. They then send their reports to the respective Secretary of State, who brings it to Parliament to be approved. As part of that, they abolish old constituencies and create new ones.

3

Yep, what Captain Amazing said. And then it takes us all a while to get used to the new names of the adjusted constituency boundaries.

4

Constituencies tend to have smaller populations than local authorities, except in the most sparsely populated areas of Scotland. The populations of local authorities vary wildly, especially after the ‘reforms’ of the 90s which, eg, left some English counties fairly intact and others in fragments. Constituencies are intended to be roughly consistent in population (about 100 000 each (people, not voters)), and boundaries are constantly being re-drawn to allow for this.

These factors add up to meaning that on the whole, constituency boundaries are often quite different from those of LAs.

Regarding elligible voters, they are quite strict on this and I think it is only students who can register in two (and no more) places.

5

They are supposed to be arranged to have roughly equal numbers of people in each. Boundaries do not necessarily match local government ones, and in cases of large population change they will alter every ten years or so. Sometimes one of the parties will appeal against the changes, more to ensure that the change is delayed until after the next election rather than from any hope that they will stop the change.

6

I though they had to pick one place (university-town or home-town). If they can register in two places can they also vote in two places? :dubious:

7

No, they definitely can’t vote in 2 places even if they are on 2 electoral rolls. I can’t remember how they make sure students only vote in one place but it was an issue in the 1979 devolution referendum in Scotland, when a precise figure for the electorate was required because of the 40% rule.

8

Perhaps, but whereas the Boundary Commission have a statutory duty to make sure constituencies have roughly the same population, which is enforced rigorously, the LA situation is pretty much random. I think there was some commission that oversaw the reforms in England in the 1990s but you would really not know it if you looked at the disparities between city, town and countryside, or single tier and double tier authorities.

9

Not completely accurate. You can only vote for 1 MP but you are allowed to vote in multiple places for local government if you own homes in the relevent wards.

10

The idea that students can vote in two places tends to crop up because they’ve been put on the electoral roll by their parents, and then do so themselves at their new address. It’s correct that they could vote in both locations, it just wouldn’t be legal to do so.