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Committee stage of Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, day five

26 October 2010

Image of UK Parliament portcullis

The House of Commons held its fifth day of the Committee stage of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill on Monday 25 October. The Committee stage took place over five days. The remaining stages of the Bill will be considered on Monday 1 November and Tuesday 2 November

Monday 25 October

Wednesday 20 October

Tuesday 19 October

Monday 18 October

Tuesday 12 October

Summary of the Bill

The Bill provides for the next General Election to be held under the Alternative Vote system, provided this change is endorsed in a referendum on 5 May 2011 and boundary changes have been made to reduce the size of the House of Commons to 600.

The Bill also creates new rules for the redistribution of seats which will require 600 constituencies in the Commons rather than the current 650. The rules will give priority to numerical equality as a principle, in that there will be a uniform electoral quota for the UK, and seats may not vary by more than 5 per cent from the quota, with some limited exceptions.

Regular redistributions would take place every five years. The Parliamentary Boundary Commissions are to conduct a review by the end of September 2013 with subsequent reviews every five years.