House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1944
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act, 1944
(7 & 8 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 41.
An Act to make temporary provision for the division of abnormally large constituencies together in certain cases with adjoining constituencies, and permanent provision for the redistribution of seats at parliamentary elections.
[26th October 1944]
B E it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Establishment of permanent Boundary Commissions.
(1) For the purpose of the continuous review of the distribution of seats at parliamentary elections, there shall be constituted four permanent Boundary Commissions, namely a Boundary Commissions for England, a Boundary Commission for Scotland, a Boundary Commission for Wales and a Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland.
(2) The Boundary Commissions shall be constituted—
(a ) in the case of the Commission for England, as soon as may be after the commencement of this Act; and
(b ) in the case of the other Commissions, as soon as may be after the date on which regulations made in pursuance of subsection (3) of section twelve of the Parliamentary Electors (War-Time Registration) Act, 1943 , (which provides for the publication of electors lists for every constituency) come into force.
(3) The Boundary Commissions shall be constituted in accordance with the provisions of Part I of the First Schedule to this Act, their assistant Commissioners and other officers shall be appointed and their expenses shall be defrayed in accordance with the provisions of Part II of that Schedule, and their procedure shall be regulated in accordance with Part III of that Schedule:
(4) For the purposes of this Act the administrative county of Monmouth shall be taken to be part of Wales and not part of England.
2 Immediate division of constituencies having electorates exceeding 100,000.
(1) The Boundary Commission for England shall forthwith take into consideration the constituencies described in the first and second columns of the Second Schedule to this Act (hereinafter referred to as ‘abnormally large constituencies’), being constituencies having electorates exceeding one hundred thousand as specified in the third column of that Schedule, and shall as soon as may be submit to the Secretary of State a report showing the constituencies (hereinafter referred to as ‘new constituencies’) into which they recommend that the abnormally large constituencies should be divided, in order to give effect to the following provisions, that is to say:—
(a ) subject to the next following paragraph, each of the abnormally large constituencies shall be divided into such number of new constituencies as is specified in relation thereto in the fourth column of that Schedule (being the number obtained by dividing its electorate by fifty thousand, disregarding any fraction);
(b ) where two or more abnormally large constituencies form a continuous area, that area may be so divided that one or more of the new constituencies include parts of more than one abnormally large constituency;
(c ) where an area is divided in accordance with paragraph (b ) of this subsection, the number of new constituencies into which it is divided shall be the total number of new constituencies that would have been created by dividing, in accordance with paragraph (a ) of this subsection, each of the abnormally large constituencies comprised in the area.
(2) Where—
(a ) any part of a county borough or county district within the meaning of the Local Government Act, 1933, is included in an abnormally large constituency, and another part thereof is included in an adjoining constituency which is not an abnormally large constituency; and
(b ) the Boundary Commission are of opinion that it is desirable to include both parts of the county borough or county district in the same constituency;
they may, for all the purposes of the foregoing subsection, treat the abnormally large constituency as including the adjoining constituency, and the number of new constituencies into which the abnormally large constituency (including the adjoining constituency) is to be divided as increased by one.
(3) Each of the new constituencies shall return a single member.
(4) The said report shall be laid by the Secretary of State before Parliament as soon as may be after its submission to him, together with the draft of an Order in Council for giving effect, whether with or without modifications, to the recommendations contained therein.
(5) For the purposes of this section the expression ‘electorate’ in relation to a constituency means the number of electors appearing on the register of parliamentary electors for the constituency which came into force on the fifteenth day of November, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine.
3 Initial report of Commissions as to redistribution.
(1) Each Boundary Commission shall, as soon as may be after the date on which regulations made in pursuance of subsection (3) of section twelve of the Parliamentary Electors (War-Time Registration) Act, 1943, come into force, take into consideration the representation in the House of Commons of that part of the United Kingdom with which they are concerned and submit to the Secretary of State a report with respect to the whole of that part of the United Kingdom showing the constituencies into which they recommend that it should be divided, and the number of members which they recommend should be returned by each of them other than the City of London, in order to give effect to the rules set out in the Third Schedule to this Act.
(2) In relation to a report by a Boundary Commission under this section, the enumeration date for the purpose of the Third Schedule to this Act shall be taken to be whichever is the later of the following dates, namely—
(a ) the earliest date on which lists of persons who appear to registration officers to be qualified to be registered in the civilian residence and service registers are required to be published by the said regulations; or
(b ) the earliest date on which lists of persons who appear to registration officers to be qualified to be registered in the business premises register are required to be published by the said regulations.
(3) The report of a Boundary Commission under this section shall be laid by the Secretary of State before Parliament as soon as may be after its submission to him.
4 Periodical reports of Commissions as to redistribution.
(1) After the submission of their report under the last foregoing section, each Boundary Commission shall keep under review the representation in the House of Commons of the part of the United Kingdom with Which they are concerned, and shall, in accordance with the next following subsection, submit to the Secretary of State reports with respect to the whole of that part of the United Kingdom, either—
(a ) showing the constituencies into which they recommend that it should be divided, and the number of members which they recommend should be returned by each of them, in order to give effect to the rules set out in the Third Schedule to this Act; or
(b ) stating that, in the opinion of the Commission, no alteration is required to be made in respect of that part of the United Kingdom in order to give effect to the said rules.
(2) Reports under the last foregoing subsection shall be submitted by a Commission—
(a ) in the case of the first report, not less than three or more than seven years from the date of the passing of an Act giving effect (whether with or without modifications) to the recommendations contained in the reports submitted by the Commissions under the last foregoing section; and
(b ) in the case of the second or any subsequent report, not less than three or more than seven years from the date of the submission of their last report under subsection (1) of this section:
Provided that a report stating that no alteration is required to be made in respect of the part of the United Kingdom with which a Commission is concerned shall not be submitted less than six years from the date of the passing of the said Act, or the date of the submission of their last report under subsection (1) of this section, as the case may be.
(3) Any Boundary Commission may also from time to time submit to the Secretary of State reports with respect to the area comprised in any particular constituency or constituencies in the part of the United Kingdom with which they are concerned, showing the constituencies into which they recommend that that area should be divided, and the number of members which they recommend should be returned by each of them, in order to give effect to the rules set out in the said Third Schedule.
(4) Where a Commission intend to consider making a report under this section, they shall, by notice in writing, inform the Secretary of State accordingly, and a copy of the said notice shall be published—
(a ) in a case where it was given by the Boundary Commission for England or the Boundary Commission for Wales, in the London Gazette; and
(b ) in a case where it was given by the Boundary Commission for Scotland, in the Edinburgh Gazette; and
(c ) in a case where it was given by the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland, in the Belfast Gazette;
and the date on which any such notice is so published with respect to any report shall, for the purposes of the Third Schedule to this Act, be taken to be the enumeration date in relation to that report.
(5) As soon as may be after a Boundary Commission have submitted a report to the Secretary of State under this section...
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