The European Parliament (Number of MEPs and Distribution between Electoral Regions) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2008

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
CitationSI 2008/1954
Year2008

2008 No. 1954

Representation Of The People

The European Parliament (Number of MEPs and Distribution between Electoral Regions) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2008

Made 17th July 2008

Coming into force in accordance with article 1.

The Treaty concerning the accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union signed at Luxembourg on 25th April 2005 (“the Luxembourg Treaty”) changed the number of MEPs to be elected for the United Kingdom1.

The Luxembourg Treaty (which has been approved by Parliament and become part of the Community Treaties by virtue of the European Union (Accessions) Act 20062) was ratified by the United Kingdom on 5th April 2006 and entered into force on 1st January 20073.

This Order implements the recommendation of the Electoral Commission dated 31st July 2007 made in accordance with section 3 of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”)4as to the distribution between the electoral regions of the changed number of United Kingdom MEPs5.

The Secretary of State has consulted the Electoral Commission about this Order in accordance with section 5(7) of the 2003 Act.

A draft of this Order has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament.

Accordingly, the Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 5(1) and 6(3) of the 2003 Act, makes the following Order:

S-1 Citation and commencement

Citation and commencement

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the European Parliament (Number of MEPs and Distribution between Electoral Regions) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2008.

(2) This Order shall come into force on the day after the day on which it is made.

(3) Articles 2 and 3 do not affect the number or distribution of United Kingdom MEPs during the rest of the current term of the European Parliament.

S-2 Amendment of European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002

Amendment of European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002

2.—(1) Section 1 of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 20026is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1) (number of MEPs and electoral regions) for “78” substitute “72”.

(3) For subsection (3) substitute—

S-3

“3 The number of MEPs to be elected for each electoral region is as follows—

East Midlands

5

Eastern

7

London

8

North East

3

North West

8

South East

10

South West

6

West Midlands

6

Yorkshire and the Humber

6

Scotland

6

Wales

4

Northern Ireland

3.”

S-3 Revocation

Revocation

3. The European Parliament (Number of MEPs) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 20047(which makes amendments that are superseded by this Order) is revoked.

Jack Straw

Secretary of State for Justice

17th July 2008

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends section 1(1) of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 (c.24)(“the 2002 Act”) to provide for a reduction in the number of MEPs elected for the United Kingdom from 78 to 72, implementing Article 9 of the Act annexed to the Luxembourg Treaty (Cm.6657).

This Order also amends section 1(3) of the 2002 Act to specify how the seats allocated to the United Kingdom will be distributed across the electoral regions, implementing the Electoral Commission’s recommendation made on 31 July 2007 in accordance with section 3 of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 (c.7). As recommended by the Electoral...

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