British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
BORDERING ON DEMOCRACY
Drawing a New Constituency Map for the United Kingdom -
a new report by the British Academy.
On Monday 6 September 2010, the House of Commons will begin its second reading debates on the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill which seeks to overhaul the current electoral process*.
Implementation of the Bill will involve a major redrawing of the map of parliamentary constituencies in all parts of the UK.
As well as likely restrictions in the number of MPs in each of the four constituent territories (Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland)**, the proposed electoral quota of 76,000 electors per constituency (+/-5%) will also lead to many constituencies covering parts of more than one local authority. In some areas it could also lead to the splitting of wards to ensure the constituency fits the quota.
A new report, published today by the British Academy seeks to examine the nature of this complicated task and aide policy makers in coming to the most appropriate options for the UK.
Drawing a New Constituency Map for the United Kingdom acknowledges the proposed rules for Boundary Commissions as a significant improvement, but advises amendments that would:
• Require the Commission for England to have regard to the boundaries of all principal local authorities when defining constituencies rather than just counties and London boroughs.
• Require the four Commissions to use wards, electoral areas and electoral divisions as building blocks for constituencies.***
• Make a separate +/- 5% stipulation for constituencies within each of the four territories to give the Commissions greater flexibility in meeting the constraints.****
• Extend the public consultation period from 12 to 16 weeks.
• Avoid integrating the five-year timetable for Boundary Commission reviews with that of the five-year fixed-term Parliament, as a possible early dissolution of Parliament and General Election would not only break this timetable, but make elections more difficult.
The report was compiled by some of the UK’s leading experts on representation – Professors Michel Balinski, Ron Johnston, Iain McLean and Peyton Young and has been produced after consultation with a wide range of academic and professional experts.
Ron Johnston, author of the report said:
“The current proposals will remove many of the problems that the Boundary Commissions have experienced over six decades in defining constituencies, because they will have to apply a coherent set of rules with equal-sized electorates the predominant criterion.
“We have suggested some technical improvements to clarify some of the rules, and identified problems that will be encountered in implementing them all.”
-ENDS-
Interviews with the authors of the report available. For further information, please contact:
Kate Turnbull, Press and PR Manager: 0207 969 5263 / k.turnbull@britac.ac.uk
EDITOR’S NOTES
* The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill covers three main subjects: holding a Referendum to change the House of Commons voting system to Alternative Vote; reducing the number of MPs to 600 from 650; and making equality of the electorate the dominant criterion when defining constituencies.
** For example, number of Welsh MPs reduced from 40 to 30; Northern Ireland from 18 to 15; Scotland from 59 to 50; and England from 533 to 503.
*** The Bill currently only stipulates this for Northern Ireland.
**** The Bill currently does this for Northern Ireland only.
• Professor Ron Johnston FBA has been Professor of Geography at the University of Bristol since 1995. He previously worked in the Departments of Geography at Monash University, the Universities of Canterbury and Sheffield and as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex. Since 1980 the majority of his work has focused on the value of a geographical perspective in the study of electoral systems, specifically spatial variations in voting, the impact of local campaigns and the process of constituency definition.
• Professor Iain McLean FBA is Official Fellow in Politics at Nuffield College, Oxford and Professor of Politics at Oxford University. He was appointed as Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Reform Committee in November 2009. Prior to this, Iain has worked at the Universities of Newcastle upon Tyne, Warwick, and Oxford, and has held visiting professorships at Washington & Lee, Stanford, Yale, and the Australian National University. His most recent work, What’s Wrong with the British Constitution, released in November 2009 is already influencing policy debates on the future of the House of Lords and British constitutional reform.
• Professor H Peyton Young FBA is James Meade Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford, and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College. He is also Research Professor in Economics at Johns Hopkins University and a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Center on Social and Economic Dynamics, The Brookings Institution. Peyton Young’s research is concerned with learning in games and its application to the diffusion of innovations, the evolution of social norms and institutions, and the design of decentralized systems of communication and control.
• Angela Cummine is a doctoral candidate in Political Theory at New College, Oxford studying on an Australian Rhodes Scholarship. Her thesis examines the distributive justice implications of Sovereign Wealth Funds. She completed her Masters in Political Theory with Distinction at Oxford in June 2009, specialising in the Theory of Voting and Contemporary Political Philosophy. Her research interests focus on the translation of contemporary political theory into public policy, particularly in the areas of egalitarianism, property rights and deliberative democracy.
• The British Academy, established by Royal Charter in 1902, is the national body that champions and supports the humanities and social sciences. It aims to inspire, recognise and support excellence and high achievement across the UK and internationally. It particularly supports work by young scholars at an early stage in their careers. For more information, please visit www.britac.ac.uk