2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies

The Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies was launched by the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011. The process began in 2011 and was intended to be completed by 2013, but a January 2013 vote in the House of Commons temporarily stopped the process. The process was recommenced following the 2015 general election and the four Boundary Commissions submitted their final recommendations to the Secretary of State on 5 September 2018[2][3] and made their reports public a week later.[4][5][6][7] Leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom told the House on 13 September 2018 that "it will be some time" before the necessary statutory instruments would be put forward for approval by both the Commons and the Lords.[8] The proposals were never put forward for approval before the calling of the general election held on 12 December 2019, and in December 2020 the reviews were formally abandoned under the terms of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 [Clause 10].[1]

The Government's policy position regarding the process for the 2023 review was confirmed in a written statement, entitled Strengthening Democracy, by Minister of State for the Cabinet Office Chloe Smith on 24 March 2020.[9] Smith confirmed in her written statement that primary legislation would be brought forward to remove the legal requirement to give effect to the recommendations of the Sixth Review and set the framework for future boundary reviews.

The main proposals in the statement were as follows:

Maintaining 650 seats

Under the legislation which governed the unimplemented 2018 Boundary Review recommendations, the number of constituencies was to be reduced from 650 to 600. It was proposed that this be retained at 650, on the grounds that Parliament will have a greater workload following the UK's departure from the European Union.[10]

Electoral quota tolerance

It was proposed to maintain the current tolerance of ±5% from the average size of constituencies (the "electoral quota").

Equal representation

It was initially proposed that there would be no change to the four protected constituencies of Isle of Wight (divided into two seats), Na h-Eileanan an Iar (the Western Isles of Scotland) and Orkney and Shetland (the Northern Isles of Scotland), which are protected from the electoral quota due to their unique geography.[9] However, during the passage of the legislation, an amendment was introduced to add Ynys Môn (the Isle of Anglesey in Wales), increasing the number of protected constituencies to five.[11]

Boundary review cycle

It was proposed that reviews be carried out every eight years, rather than the current requirement of five years.

Implementation of recommendations

Currently, the final proposals of the Boundary Commissions are brought into effect through an Order in Council that must be approved by Parliament. In the future, it was proposed that the Order in Council be automatically passed.

Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020
Act of Parliament
Long title	An Act to make provision about reports of the Boundary Commissions under the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986; to make provision about the number of parliamentary constituencies and other rules for the distribution of seats; and for connected purposes.
Citation	c. 25
Introduced by	Chloe Smith, Minister of State for the Constitution and Devolution (Commons) Lord True, Minister of State for European Union Relations and Constitutional Policy (Lords)
Territorial extent	England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
Dates
Royal assent	14 December 2020
Status: Current legislation

A Bill of Parliament was introduced on 19 May 2020[12] to reflect the written statement and it received its Second Reading on 2 June 2020.[13] The Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 received royal assent on 14 December 2020.[14] The act amends the regulations underpinning the upcoming boundary review process, including the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, Northern Ireland Act 1998, Boundary Commissions Act 1992, and Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011.

A summary of the main provisions of the Act are as follows:

Clause 1 - Reports of the Boundary Commissions

Each Boundary Commission must submit a report:

(a) before 1 July 2023,

(b) before 1 October 2031, and

(c) before 1 October of every eighth year after that.

Clause 2 - Orders in Council giving effect to reports

This gives effect to the proposal that the Orders in Council are automatically passed. The Orders must be made within four months of the reports being laid before Parliament, "unless there are exceptional circumstances".

Clause 3 - Modifications of recommendations in reports

A Boundary Commission may submit modifications to its report after it has been submitted but before an Order in Council has been drafted.

Clause 4 - Publicity and consultation

This clause changes the timings in respect of various stages in the publicity and consultation procedures.

Clause 5 - Number of parliamentary constituencies

The number of constituencies will remain at 650.

Clause 6 - Taking account of local government boundaries

This amends the rules regarding the factors a Commission may take into account to include local government boundaries which are prospective on the "review date", as opposed to just being effective. Prospective local government boundaries are those which have been specified by legislation, but have not yet become effective.

Clause 7 - Protected constituencies

This adds Ynys Môn (defined as the area of the Isle of Anglesey County Council) as a protected constituency.

Clause 8 - Registers used to determine the “electorate” in relation to the 2023 reports

For the 2023 reports, the date for determining the "electorate" to be used in the reviews is 2 March 2020 (rather than 1 December 2020). This amendment was specifically inserted partly because of the shorter time-frame for submitting the reports, but primarily because of concerns over collecting the data during the COVID-19 pandemic.[13]

Clause 9 - Alteration of the “review date” in relation to the 2023 reports

For the 2023 reports, the "review date" is specified as 1 December 2020, rather than 2 years and 10 months before the report date.

Clause 10 - Removal of duty to implement etc. in relation to current reports

This clause formally removes the duty to implement the previous reviews which were submitted in September 2018.

The four Boundary commissions formally launched their 2023 reviews on 5 January 2021[15][16][17][18] to coincide with the release by the Office for National Statistics ("ONS") of electorate data as at 2 March 2020.[19] The commissions jointly calculated the relevant electoral quota/range to be used for the 2023 review and the allocation of parliamentary constituency between the four nations. The English commission further divided its allocation between the nine regions of England.

• Boundary Commission for England
• Boundary Commission for Scotland
• Boundary Commission for Wales
• Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland