Parliament/European boundaries query

[oldwarhorse]

May a parliamentary constituency straddle aEuropean Regional boundary?

I know you lovely people will know.... Thanks very much

[swindonlad]

As both, are currently, based on county boundaries, can't see it happening (& personally would disagree to it happening).

Could it happen, in theory yes, as Conservative's policy to make it possible to cross county boundaries (e.g. a constituency in both Wiltshire & Dorset) would allow it, but, they did say regional boundaries would not be crossed. So remove that & it could happen, Shrivenham (in the SE) could be added to a Swindon (SW) constituency as it borders Ridgeway ward

[oldwarhorse]

Thanks. I shall explain.

There is a resident-led campaign currently under way for Yarm to move from Stockton BC to Hambleton. They are in two different European Regions (NE and Yorkshire). My views on this are not relevant at this point.

I wondered whether such a move would require a change to the Parliamentary constituency boundary if it were ultimately successful.

[Pete Whitehead]

Yarm (along with Ingleby Barwick and other areas SOuth of the Tees) is in the unusual position of being in the ceremonial county of NOrth Yorkshire while the rest of Stockton bortough is in the ceremonial county of Durham. I think Stockton may be the only boruogh in this position as Warrington borough which includes ares formerly in both Cheshire and Lancashire has remained in the ceremonial county of Cheshire where it was polaced in 1973. If the borough boundaries were changed then the parliamentary boundaries need not catch up with that fact until the next review. Indeed this would not be a new situatrion for Yarm as it remained part of the North Yorkshire county division of Richmond for three elections (1974-79) after it had been moved into the county of Cleveland

[greatkingrat]

Yes, it is possible. If in the future Lincolnshire county was not entitled to a whole number of seats, a constituency combining part of Lincs county (in Eas Midlands), with parts of N or NE Lincs (in Yorks & Humber) may well be the best solution.

[East Anglian Lefty]

May 29, 2014 10:03:27 GMT greatkingrat said:

Yes, it is possible. If in the future Lincolnshire county was not entitled to a whole number of seats, a constituency combining part of Lincs county (in Eas Midlands), with parts of N or NE Lincs (in Yorks & Humber) may well be the best solution.

But currently Lincolnshire is large enough that rounding it to the nearest whole integer wouldn't cause any great disparity in seat size. Only the really small counties like Herefordshire and Rutland are ever likely to be paired under the current rules.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

For Yarm to get transferred from the borough of Stockton-on-Tees to Hambleton district, it would need a principal area review by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, but when the statutory instrument gave effect to the change then Yarm would move from North East to Yorkshire and the Humber.

The Parliamentary constituency boundary would not change immediately but would be moved into line by an interim review of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England, and the change would come into effect at the ensuing general election - so there would probably be a brief time when the boundaries did not match up.

[Deleted]

The current rules for parliamentary boundary reviews (ie those introduced by the coalition in 2011, and applied in the abortive 6th review) do not prohibit crossing European region boundaries, but invite the Commission to consider having regard for them. The Commission (correctly) interpreted this as a suggestion that they might be used as sub-regions for the purpose of the review and so reviewed each region separately.

[oldwarhorse]

Thanks everyone. Very useful. I am lucky to have such experts at hand.

[Andrew_S]

O/T:

I'm guessing most Labour supporters would like to see Yarm transferred out of Stockton since it's almost certainly the only reason the Tories are able to win Stockton South at present.

[Pete Whitehead]

I think actually the strongest Tory areas in the seat are in Stockton itself (Hartburn ward etc) though its slightly difficult to ascertain how Yarm votes in partisan terms since its dominated by Independents at local level (as is Thornaby which is clearly much more Labour in general elections). Before the Independents started winning Yarm was generally pretty safely Tory but could fall to Labour in a disastrous year like 1995 while the safe Tory wards in West Stockton were not close even then

[oldwarhorse]

The borough councillors are Tory apart from one who defected to UKIP. Yarm has elected Tory cllrs for aeons apart from one year when they split their own vote and Labour crept through the middle. The Town Council is more indy. But generally even they are either Tories who have fallen out with each other or Tories in disguise. The Tory MP backed the three indies last month in a byelection who then went on to call for the poll to move to NYCC.