The Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 (c. 56) is an
Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
. It is the legislation defining the constitution and work of the four
parliamentary Boundary Commissions in the UK. A copy of the current text of the legislation, incorporating all current amendments, is available from the legislation section of the Boundary Commission for Scotland website.
The 1986 Act consolidated earlier legislation, namely the
House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949
The House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provided for the periodic review of the number and boundaries of parliamentary constituencies.
The Act amended the rules for the dist ...
and the Acts of the same name of 1958 and 1979.
Amendment
The 1986 Act has been amended by the Boundary Commissions Act 1992, and by various other statutes, and remains in force. In February 2011, the
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011
The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 (c. 1) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made provision for the holding of a referendum on whether to introduce the Alternative Vote system in all future general ele ...
received Royal Assent. It contains substantial amendments to the 1986 Act. The changes affected the
Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies
The 2013 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, also known as the sixth Review, or just boundary changes, was an ultimately unfruitful cycle of the process by which constituencies of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom are reviewe ...
which provides for a review to be laid before Parliament that contains 50 fewer constituencies and less
variation in electorates. It also provides for more frequent boundary reviews and a small reduction in the length of the consultation period.
References
External links
*
{{UK legislation
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1986
Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
1986 in British politics
Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Northern Ireland