Have your say on the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill

The Bill

The Parliamentary Constituencies Bill 2019-21 will, if passed, amend the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986. The 1986 Act gives the Boundary Commissions their statutory basis, governs the constituency boundary review process and sets the Rules of Redistribution that the Commissions must follow.

If the Bill is passed, the key changes will be as follows:

• The number of MPs will be fixed at 650;
• The 2018 Review, which would have reduced the number of MPs to 600 will no longer be implemented. Ministers will no longer be required to lay legislation (a draft Order in Council) to implement the 2018 Review.
• The next review, due to start in 2021, will have to be completed by the Boundary Commissions by 1 July 2023. It will be based on the number of registered electorates as of 1 December 2020;
• The next review after the 2023 Review will have to be completed by 1 October 2031; with subsequent reviews required to report by the 1 October every eight years thereafter;
• Recommendations of the Boundary Commissions will be no longer require Parliamentary approval and government ministers will have no power to alter recommendations;
• The public consultation phase will be amended to allow for public hearings in the secondary stage of consultation rather than in the initial stage. The time allowed for public consultations from 2031 will remain the same overall (24 weeks) but will be split into three eight-week periods. The consultation stages of the 2023 Review will be have a shorter duration as a result of the shorter time available for the 2023 Review.
•  The Boundary Commissions will be given more flexibility to use local government and ward boundaries that have yet to come into force.

The provisions of the Bill would extend and apply to the whole of the United Kingdom. The matters to which the provisions of the Bill relate are not within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament or the Northern Ireland Assembly, and no legislative consent motion is being sought in relation to any provision of the Bill.

The Bill would come into force on Royal Assent.         

Further information

The Government has published Explanatory Notes for the Bill. The Bill page on the Parliamentary website also provides links to an Impact Assessment and a Delegated Powers Memorandum from the Cabinet Office.

Follow the progress of the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill

The Parliamentary Constituencies Bill 2019–21 was introduced to the House of Commons on 19 May 2020. Second reading was held on 2 June 2020.

• Bills before Parliament: Parliamentary Constituencies Bill 2019–21
• Read Explanatory Notes: Parliamentary Constituencies Bill 2019–21
•  House of Commons Library Briefing Paper

This Bill is now being considered by a Public Bill Committee which will scrutinise the Bill line by line. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the work of Public Bill Committees has been temporarily suspended. The first sitting of the Public Bill Committee will be on a date to be confirmed and the Committee is scheduled to report by Thursday 2 July 2020. The Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence.

Guidance on submitting written evidence

Deadline for written evidence submissions

The Public Bill Committee is now able to receive written evidence. The sooner you send in your submission, the more time the Committee will have to take it into consideration and possibly reflect it in an amendment. The order in which amendments are taken in Committee will be available in due course under Selection of Amendments on the Bill documents pages. Once the Committee has dealt with an amendment it will not revisit it.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the work of Public Bill Committees has been temporarily suspended. The first sitting of the Public Bill Committee will be on a date to be confirmed and the Committee is scheduled to report by Thursday 2 July 2020. However, please note that when the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer able to receive written evidence and it can conclude earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Thursday 2 July 2020. You are strongly advised to submit your written evidence as soon as possible.

Your submission should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk.

Further guidance on submitting written evidence can be found here.