Boundary Commission

There are four boundary commissions in the United Kingdom, one each for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They are are non-departmental public bodies. Their job is to decide the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. [1]

The Speaker of the House of Commons is officially chair of each of them. The Speaker does not play any part in the reviews. A High Court judge is appointed to each boundary commission as deputy chair.

The commissions report to parliament every eight years.

The rules they follow are set out in the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, as amended by the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 and the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020. There are 650 constituencies.

Local authority areas and electoral areas are reviewed by the separate but similarly named:

  • Local Government Boundary Commission for England
  • Boundaries Scotland
  • Local Government Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland
  • Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales

References

  1. ↑ Clift-Matthews, Michelle (7 January 2015). "UK parliamentary constituencies". Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2015.