United Kingdom constituencies
Encyclopedia
In the United Kingdom each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.
Within the United Kingdom
there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:
Between 1921 and 1973 the following body also included members elected by constituencies:
Electoral areas called constituencies are also used in elections to the European Parliament
. (See European Parliament constituencies.)
In local government elections, electoral areas are called wards or electoral divisions.
House of Commons, Northern Ireland Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly constituencies are designated as either county or borough constituencies, except that in Scotland the term burgh is used instead of borough. Borough constituencies are predominantly urban
while county constituencies are predominantly rural
. There is no definitive statutory criterion for the distinction; the Boundary Commission for England has stated that, "as a general principle, where constituencies contain more than a small rural element they should normally be designated as county constituencies. Otherwise they should be designated as borough constituencies."
Since the advent of universal suffrage
, the differences between county and borough constituencies are slight. The returning officer
in a county constituency is the high sheriff
of the county; in a borough constituency it is the mayor
or district council head. The spending limits for election campaigns are different in the two, the reasoning being that candidates in county constituencies tend to need to travel further.
Within the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:
- The House of CommonsBritish House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
(see United Kingdom Parliament constituencies) - The Scottish ParliamentScottish ParliamentThe Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
(see Scottish Parliament constituencies and regionsScottish Parliament constituencies and regionsScottish Parliament constituencies and regions were first used in 1999, in the first general election of the Scottish Parliament , created by the Scotland Act 1998....
) - The Northern Ireland AssemblyNorthern Ireland AssemblyThe Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
(see Northern Ireland Assembly constituencies) - The National Assembly for WalesNational Assembly for WalesThe National Assembly for Wales is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. The Assembly comprises 60 members, who are known as Assembly Members, or AMs...
(see National Assembly for Wales constituencies and electoral regions) - The London AssemblyLondon AssemblyThe London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the mayor's annual budget. The assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south...
(see London Assembly constituenciesLondon Assembly constituenciesGreater London is divided into fourteen territorial constituencies for London Assembly elections, each returning one member. The electoral system used is Additional Member System without an overhang and there are, therefore, a fixed number of eleven additional members elected from the London-wide...
)
Between 1921 and 1973 the following body also included members elected by constituencies:
- The Parliament of Northern IrelandParliament of Northern IrelandThe Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended...
(see List of Northern Ireland Parliament constituencies)
Electoral areas called constituencies are also used in elections to the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. (See European Parliament constituencies.)
In local government elections, electoral areas are called wards or electoral divisions.
County constituencies and borough constituencies
House of Commons, Northern Ireland Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly constituencies are designated as either county or borough constituencies, except that in Scotland the term burgh is used instead of borough. Borough constituencies are predominantly urban
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
while county constituencies are predominantly rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
. There is no definitive statutory criterion for the distinction; the Boundary Commission for England has stated that, "as a general principle, where constituencies contain more than a small rural element they should normally be designated as county constituencies. Otherwise they should be designated as borough constituencies."
Since the advent of universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
, the differences between county and borough constituencies are slight. The returning officer
Returning Officer
In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.-Australia:In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a State Electoral Commission who heads the local divisional office...
in a county constituency is the high sheriff
High Sheriff
A high sheriff is, or was, a law enforcement officer in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.In England and Wales, the office is unpaid and partly ceremonial, appointed by the Crown through a warrant from the Privy Council. In Cornwall, the High Sheriff is appointed by the Duke of...
of the county; in a borough constituency it is the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
or district council head. The spending limits for election campaigns are different in the two, the reasoning being that candidates in county constituencies tend to need to travel further.
| Elected body | by-election By-election A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections.... s to any of these bodies, the limit in all constituencies is £100,000. HistoryIn the House of Commons of EnglandHouse of Commons of England The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain... , each county Counties of England Counties of England are areas used for the purposes of administrative, geographical and political demarcation. For administrative purposes, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly is divided into 83 counties. The counties may consist of a single district or be divided into several... elected two "knights of the shire" while each enfranchised borough Borough A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely.... elected "burgesses" (usually two; sometimes four; one for each Welsh borough from 1535). Until 1950 there were also university constituencies University constituency A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents a university rather than a geographical area. University constituencies may involve plural voting, in which eligible voters are permitted to vote in both a university constituency and a geographical... , which gave graduates an additional representation. The franchise was restricted differently in different types of constituency; in county constituencies forty shilling freeholders Forty Shilling Freeholders Forty shilling freeholders were a group of landowners who had the Parliamentary franchise to vote in county constituencies in various parts of the British Isles. In England it was the only such qualification from 1430 until 1832... (i.e. landowners) could vote, while in boroughs the franchise varied from potwalloper Potwalloper A potwalloper is an archaic term referring to a borough constituency returning members to the House of Commons of England before 1707, the House of Commons of Great Britain and the Irish House of Commons before 1801, and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1832, when the Reform Act... s, giving many residents votes, to rotten borough Rotten borough A "rotten", "decayed" or pocket borough was a parliamentary borough or constituency in the United Kingdom that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within Parliament.... s with hardly any voters. Similar distinctions applied in the Irish House of Commons Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland, that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords... , while the non-university elected members of the Parliament of Scotland Parliament of Scotland The Parliament of Scotland, officially the Estates of Parliament, was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland. The unicameral parliament of Scotland is first found on record during the early 13th century, with the first meeting for which a primary source survives at... were called Shire Commissioners and Burgh Commissioners. After the Acts of Union 1707 Acts of Union 1707 The Acts of Union were two Parliamentary Acts - the Union with Scotland Act passed in 1706 by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland - which put into effect the terms of the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706,... , Scottish burghs were grouped into districts of burghs in the Parliament of Great Britain Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland... , except that Edinburgh was a constituency in its own right Edinburgh (UK Parliament constituency) Edinburgh was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1885. Originally a single member constituency, representation was increased to two members in 1832... . After the Acts of Union 1800, smaller Irish boroughs were disenfranchised, while most others returned only one MP to the United Kingdom Parliament. The Reform Act 1832 Reform Act 1832 The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales... reduced the number of parliamentary borough Parliamentary borough Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament... s by eliminating the rotten boroughs. It also divided larger counties into two two-seat divisions, the boundaries of which were defined in the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 The Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which defined the parliamentary divisions in England and Wales required by the Reform Act 1832.... , and gave seven counties a third member. The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equally populated constituencies, in an attempt to equalise representation across... equalised the population of constituencies; it split larger boroughs into multiple single-member constituencies, reduced smaller boroughs from two seats each to one, split each two-seat county and division into two single-member constituencies, and each three-seat county into single-member constituencies. House of Commons constituenciesIn the 2005 United Kingdom general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 2005 The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160.... , the House of Commons had 646 constituencies covering the whole of the United Kingdom. This rose to 650 in the 2010 election. Each constituency elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the "first past the post" system of election. The House of Commons is one of the two legislative Legislation Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it... bodies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London... , the other being the House of Lords House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster.... . See also
London Assembly constituenciesThere are fourteen London Assembly constituenciesLondon Assembly constituencies Greater London is divided into fourteen territorial constituencies for London Assembly elections, each returning one member. The electoral system used is Additional Member System without an overhang and there are, therefore, a fixed number of eleven additional members elected from the London-wide... covering the Greater London Greater London Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London... area, and each constituency elects one member of the assembly by the first past the post system of election. Also, eleven additional member Additional Member System The Additional Member System is the term used in the United Kingdom for the mixed member proportional representation voting system used in Scotland, Wales and the London Assembly.... s are elected from Greater London as a whole to produce a form or degree of mixed member proportional representation Mixed member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world... . Constituency names and boundaries remain now as they were for the first general election London Assembly election, 2000 The first elections for members of the London Assembly were held on 4 May 2000, alongside the first mayoral election.The assembly elections used the Mixed member proportional representation, a form of Additional member system, with 14 directly elected constituencies and 11 London-wide top-up... of the assembly, in 2000. The assembly is part of the Greater London Authority Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority is the top-tier administrative body for Greater London, England. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of London, currently Boris Johnson, and an elected 25-member London Assembly with scrutiny powers... and general elections of the assembly are held at the same time as election of the Mayor of London Mayor of London The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008... . Northern Ireland Assembly constituenciesThere are 18 Northern Ireland AssemblyNorthern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive... Constituencies: 4 borough (for Belfast Belfast Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly... ) and 14 county constituencies elsewhere (see below). Each elects 6 MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland) Member of the Legislative Assembly is a representative elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly in Northern Ireland.- About :... s to the 108 member NI Assembly by means of the Single Transferrable Vote Single transferable vote The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or... system. Assembly Constituency boundaries are usually linked to their House of Commons equivalents (which also are 18 in number, although they only elect 1 MP Member of Parliament A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,... to serve). The constituencies below are not used for the election of members to the 26 district councils Districts of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland is divided into 26 districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland local councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom, for example they have no responsibility for education, for road building or for housing... .
Scottish Parliament constituenciesScottish Parliament constituencies are sometimes called Holyrood constituencies, to distinguish them from Westminster (House of Commons) constituencies. The Scottish Parliament BuildingScottish Parliament Building The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 and the Members of the Scottish Parliament held their first debate in the new building on 7... is in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area... , while the main meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is the Palace of Westminster Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons... , in the City of Westminster City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary... . There are 73 Holyrood constituencies covering Scotland Scotland Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the... , and each elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election. Also, the constituencies are grouped into eight electoral regions, and each of these regions elects seven additional member Additional Member System The Additional Member System is the term used in the United Kingdom for the mixed member proportional representation voting system used in Scotland, Wales and the London Assembly.... s, to produce a form or degree of mixed member proportional representation Mixed member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world... . The existing constituencies were created, effectively, for the first general election Scottish Parliament election, 1999 The Scottish Parliament election, 1999 was the first general election of the Scottish Parliament, with voting taking place on 6 May 1999 to elect 129 members... of the Scottish Parliament, in 1999. When created, all but two had the names and boundaries of Westminster constituencies. The two exceptions were the Orkney Holyrood constituency Orkney (Scottish Parliament constituency) Orkney is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election... , covering the Orkney Islands council area, and the Shetland Holyrood constituency Shetland (Scottish Parliament constituency) Shetland is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament . It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament by the first past the post method of election... , covering the Shetland Islands council area. For Westminster elections, these council areas were covered (and still are covered) by the Orkney and Shetland Westminster constituency Orkney and Shetland (UK Parliament constituency) Orkney and Shetland is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election... . In 1999, under the Scotland Act 1998 Scotland Act 1998 The Scotland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is the Act which established the devolved Scottish Parliament.The Act will be amended by the Scotland Bill 2011, if and when it receives royal assent.-History:... , 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 Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 The Scottish Parliament Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amends the Scotland Act 1998 which established the Scottish Parliament.... , which enabled the creation of a new set of Westminster constituencies without change to Holyrood constituencies. The new Westminster boundaries became effective for the United Kingdom general election, 2005 United Kingdom general election, 2005 The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160.... . Welsh Assembly constituenciesThere are 40 Welsh Assembly constituencies covering WalesWales Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²... , and each elects one Assembly Member (AM) by the first past the post system of election. Also, the constituencies are grouped into five electoral regions, and each of these regions elects four additional member Additional Member System The Additional Member System is the term used in the United Kingdom for the mixed member proportional representation voting system used in Scotland, Wales and the London Assembly.... s, to produce a form or degree of mixed member proportional representation Mixed member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world... . The current set of Assembly constituencies is the second to be created. The first was created for the first general election Welsh Assembly election, 1999 The first National Assembly for Wales elections were held on 6 May 1999. The overall turnout of voters was 46.3%. Although the Welsh Labour Party were the biggest party, they did not gain enough seats to form a majority government and instead entered into coalition with the Liberal Democrats... of the Assembly, in 1999. European Parliament constituenciesThere are twelve European Parliament constituencies covering the United Kingdom. All except one are entirely within the UK. The exception is the South West England constituencySouth West England (European Parliament constituency) South West England is a constituency of the European Parliament. For 2009 it elects 6 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation, reduced from 7 in 2004.-Boundaries:... , which includes Gibraltar Gibraltar Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region... . Each constituency elects a number of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,... the d'Hondt method D'Hondt method The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878... of party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected... . The current set of UK European Parliament constituencies was first used in the 1999 European Parliament election. The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
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