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Can the Boundary Commissions Help the Conservative Party? Constituency Size and Electoral Bias in the United Kingdom
Article first published online: 24 NOV 2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-923X.2009.02053.x
© The Authors 2009. Journal compilation © The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2009
Additional Information
How to Cite
JOHNSTON, R., MCLEAN, I., PATTIE, C. and ROSSITER, D. (2009), Can the Boundary Commissions Help the Conservative Party? Constituency Size and Electoral Bias in the United Kingdom. The Political Quarterly, 80: 479–494. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-923X.2009.02053.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 24 NOV 2009
- Article first published online: 24 NOV 2009
Keywords:
- UK;
- Boundary Commissions;
- constituencies;
- electorate size;
- biases
As part of a strategy to remove perceived biases operating against it in the system used for elections to the House of Commons, the British Conservative party is promoting a revision of the rules used by the Boundary Commissions to ensure greater equality in constituency electorates. A Bill designed to achieve this—and also to reduce the size of the House—was introduced to the House of Lords in 2007. This paper critiques that Bill and suggests an alternative formulation that would better achieve the goal, whilst identifying a number of operational difficulties that its implementation would involve.