Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011

Act of Parliament

House	Act	Date
	Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 c.1	23.02.2011

• All Bill documents

Latest news on the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011

The House of Lords considered the Commons amendments to the Bill on 16 February. Outstanding issues on the Bill were returned to the Commons for consideration on the same day.

The Bill then returned again to the Lords. Following final agreement by both Houses on the text of the Bill it received Royal Assent on 16 February. The Bill is now an Act of Parliament (law).

Summary of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011

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.

Stay up to date

Keep up to date with the progress of Bills going through Parliament. Sign up for email alerts or use our RSS feeds.

• RSS feed for this Bill

Related information

Guide to the passage of a Bill

Find out what happens at each stage of a Public Bill’s journey through Parliament with the Passage of a Bill guide.

When does a Bill become law?

Explanation of what happens after Bills have been passed, and when laws may change.

Human rights