Key Facts

• Peter Stanyon is the chief executive of the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA).
• The next boundary review will finish by July 2023.
• The Gould principle suggests a six-month preparation period before an election takes place for administrators to implement changes effectively.
• A revised version of electoral registers needs to be published by December 1, which is ideal for reflecting new parliamentary constituencies.
• No electoral register is either 100% accurate or complete.
• There may be a discrepancy of hundreds of thousands between December 2019 and March 2020 registers.
• The most accurate version of the register usually appears in the month after an election due to updates made at that time.
• Local authorities must subdivide constituencies into polling districts and designate polling places for stations, with reviews required if boundaries change.
• The Bill allows consideration of ward changes that have not yet come into effect.
• Significant boundary changes from the 2018 review make current administrative practices difficult.
• Communication between different local authorities and their respective EROs is crucial for managing elections.
• Sir David Amess concludes the session.
• Andrew Scallan, deputy chair of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, provided evidence.
• The committee discussed how to better coordinate parliamentary constituency boundaries and local government boundaries.
• 19 reviews covering 3.3 million people will be made before 1 December.
• Around 13 reviews covering 2.1 million people will not be completed by 1 December.
• Since 2010, there have been three discussions about the commission's orders, but none has been overturned.
• Sir David Amess chairs the Public Bill Committee session.
• Darren Hughes is the chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society.
• The discussion covers comparisons between the UK's boundary review system and that of New Zealand.
• New Zealand's process includes automaticity to avoid political interference.
• Consultation periods should consider innovative methods like citizens' juries.
• The UK system is trusted and has avoided gerrymandering compared to other jurisdictions.
• New Zealand uses proportional representation for local government elections.
• Millions of people either vote for a candidate who does not win or support a winner without needing their votes under the current system.
• The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) tracks movement between nations at UK general elections.
• American congressional districts have close to zero margin of deviation around population size.
• David Daley wrote books about how the boundary system in America got to its current state.
• Professor Iain McLean warned that the concept of local ties can be politicised differently by different political parties.
• The suggestion is to move to an automatic voter registration model.
• A paper by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust discusses automatic voter registration.
• There was a decision to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 which was later reversed.
• The previous proposal reduced parliamentary constituencies from 650 to 600.
• Northern Ireland currently has 18 seats but was proposed to be reduced to 17 under the reduction plan.
• Rule 7 allows flexibility beyond the 5% tolerance for unreasonable infringement in geographical considerations.
• Gavin Robinson testified about the views of his party, the DUP, on the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill.
• The discussion included considerations for Northern Ireland's parliamentary boundaries and their alignment with UK constituencies.
• Sir David Amess thanked Mr. Robinson for providing insights into how other parties in Northern Ireland view the legislation.
• The planned change to reduce MPs from 650 to 600 would result in a reduction of around 12 seats for Wales.
• If the number of MPs remains at 650, Wales will still lose eight seats.
• Wales' proportional representation in the Commons will be around 5% under either plan.
• Wales has seen a slower rate of population increase compared to England.
• Wales risks losing more seats due to the Bill's automaticity if population trends continue.
• There are concerns that reducing the number of MPs in Wales could diminish Westminster's perceived importance to Welsh voters.
• Sir David Amess introduces Dr Rossiter and Professor Charles Pattie for a session on constituency boundary reviews.
• Professor Pattie has been studying elections and boundary reviews for about 30 or 35 years.
• Dr Rossiter has studied and published on the process of redrawing boundaries for approximately 40 years.
• The 2011 Act created a UK-wide quota and set rules for allocations to countries and regions.
• In an average eight-year period, there are about eight changes to national or English regional entitlements.
• With a fixed Parliament size of 650 seats, four new seats would be created and four abolished in each review cycle.
• Experts estimate that approximately half of seats experienced major change during previous reviews.
• The current review is expected to affect two thirds to three quarters of constituencies due to changes over a longer period (20 years).
• Maintaining 650 seats does not significantly help in minimizing the disruption.
• The Durack division in Western Australia covers 1.63 million sq km.
• Wales has an electoral quota of about 54,500 compared to 72,000 in the north-west of England.
• In Greater Manchester, constituency sizes range from 63,000 to 95,000.
• Professor Pattie argues that a higher variance (7% or 8%) reduces disruption to constituencies.
• The current system requires adding around 20,000 extra voters for equalization.
• Locality and community experience can influence voting patterns, though the extent is debated.
• Sir David Amess thanked Dr Rossiter and Professor Pattie for their evidence.
• The session was concluded due to no further questions from Committee Members.
• Further consideration of the bill is ordered to be adjourned until Thursday, June 25th at half-past Eleven o'clock.