Choosing between impossible alternatives: Creating a new constituency map for Wales, 2004

Political Quarterly

Volumn 76, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 67-81

  Johnston, Ron ^a   McLean, Iain ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 14044265074     PISSN: 00323179     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-923X.2005.00657.x     Document Type: Review

References (21)

1. D. E. Butler and I. McLean, 'The redrawing of Parliamentary boundaries in Britain', in I. McLean and D. E. Butler, eds, Fixing the Boundaries: Defining and Redefining Single-Member Electoral Districts, Aldershot, Dartmouth, 1996, pp. 1-38.
2. I. McLean, 'Are Scotland and Wales over-represented in the House of Commons?', The Political Quarterly, vol. 66, no. 4, 1995, pp. 250-68.
3. In fact, it is almost certain that they will fail to do that. Comparing the average Welsh constituency electorate in the Commis sion's provisional recommendations and the electoral quota being deployed by the English Commission indicates that the former is 80 per cent of the latter.
4. In conducting a full review, a Commission need not change any of the constituencies for which it is responsible, as was the case in the First Periodical Review of Northern Ireland (D. J. Rossiter, R. J. Johnston and C. J. Pattie, The Boundary Commissions: Redrawing the UK's Map of Parliamentary Constituencies, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1999).
5. For a full discussion of that Act, its predecessors and successors see Rossiter et al., The Boundary Commissions.
6. Especially I. McLean and R. Mortimore, 'Apportionment and the Boundary Commission for England', Electoral Studies, vol. 11, 1992, pp. 292-308.
7. Rossiter et al., The Boundary Commissions.
8. I b i d.
9. The Commissions do not take political and electoral considerations into account: they have no access to relevant electoral data, and electoral issues cannot be raised before an Assistant Commissioner.
10. In Scotland, rule 4(1)(b) is weaker than is 4(1)(a), which applies to England and Wales: the Scottish Commission need only have regard for local government boundaries (on which see Rossiter et al., The Boundary Commissions).
11. The smaller average for Scotland relative to the English quota is because the Commissions are allowed to create small constituencies in areas of low population density, such as the Highlands and Islands region and the Orkney and Shetland Isles.
12. See R. J. Johnston, D. J. Rossiter and C. J. Pattie, 'The partisan impacts of non-partisan redistricting: Northern Ireland 1993-1995', Transactions, Institute of British Geographers, NS23, 1998, pp. 455-80.
13. Boundary Commission for Wales, Fourth Periodic Report, Cm 195, London, HMSO, 1995, p. 47, paras 187-90.
14. Boundary Commission for Wales, The Review of Parliamentary Constituencies and Welsh Assembly Electoral Regions in Wales, Cardiff, Boundary Commission for Wales, 2003, p. 14, para 33.
15. Boundary Commission for Wales, The Review of Parliamentary Constituencies and Welsh Assembly Electoral Regions in Wales: Provisional Recommendations, Cardiff, Boundary Commission for Wales, 2004, p. 3.
16. Ibid., p. 19.
17. In the 1990s, Labour was much better organised to calculate the best configuration of constituencies in an area for its electoral benefits (Rossiter et al., The Boundary Commissions).
18. Lord Richard (Chairman), Report of the Commission on the Powers and Electoral Arrangements of the National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff, National Assembly for Wales, 2004.
19. See R. J. Johnston, C. J. Pattie, D. F. L. Dorling and D. J. Rossiter, From Votes to Seats: The Operation of the UK Electoral System since 1945, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2001.
20. Boundary Commission for Wales, Revised Recommendations for the Parliamentary Constituencies in the Preserved Counties of Clwyd and Gwynedd, Cardiff, Boundary Commission for Wales, 3 November 2004.
21. Boundary Commission for Wales, Revised Recommendations for the Parliamentary Constituencies in the Preserved County of South Glamorgan, Cardiff, Boundary Commission for Wales, 10 November 2004.