The Boundary Commissions, Periodic Reviews, The 2023 Boundary Review, Malapportionment, Safe Seats, and the Difference Between Gerrymandering and the Mere Appearance of It
Drawing the Lines: The Process Britain Uses to Decide Which Communities Share a Member of Parliament
Constituency boundaries determine which voters are grouped together for parliamentary election purposes — a decision with profound consequences for which party wins which seat, which communities share representation, and whether the electoral map accurately reflects the country’s political geography. In Britain, unlike the United States where state legislatures draw congressional boundaries and produce the partisan gerrymandering that is the most egregious democratic manipulation in any major democracy, constituency boundaries are drawn by independent Boundary Commissions operating under statutory criteria that prioritise electoral equality and geographic coherence. The system is more independent than the American alternative. It is less independent than the statutory criteria imply. The government’s control of the legislation governing what the commissions do creates indirect political influence over the outcomes those commissions produce, which is either an unavoidable feature of democratic governance or a structural problem in independent boundary review, depending on whether you think the specific legislative choices have been politically neutral.
How the Commissions Work: The Independent Process With Political Inputs
Four Boundary Commissions — one each for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland — are statutory independent bodies conducting periodic reviews under criteria set by Parliament. Since the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020, constituencies must be within 5% of the UK electoral quota (approximately 73,000 registered voters), with five-yearly reviews. The commissions consult publicly on proposals, hold hearings in affected areas, and produce final recommendations subject to parliamentary approval through an Order in Council. Parliament can approve or reject the recommendations but cannot amend them — which limits political interference at the final stage while leaving significant discretion in the commissioners’ initial determinations, and which means that the real political action occurs in the design of the criteria rather than in the rejection of specific recommendations, which has not happened in the modern period.
The 2023 Review: The Most Significant Redrawing Since the 1980s
The 2023 boundary review implemented the 2020 Act’s stricter equality requirements, producing the most significant redrawing of constituency boundaries in forty years. Many rural constituencies were merged or reorganised; several urban constituencies were significantly redrawn; and the political consequences were significant enough that Conservative and Labour MPs spent considerable energy attempting to assess which communities would be grouped together and what this would mean for their personal political futures. The Boundary Commission for England’s website documents the process with the transparency that the commission applies to its work. The commission cannot take political consequences into account. Politicians are free to notice them. Both sides argued that the review advantaged the other party, which is the standard response to boundary reviews and the best evidence that the commission is doing something reasonably close to neutral.
Why Britain Mostly Avoids Gerrymandering While Not Entirely Avoiding the Appearance of It
Gerrymandering — drawing boundaries to advantage a specific party — is prevented by the independent commission process and the equality criteria. The more subtle question — whether the specific criteria chosen advantage one party over another — is legitimate. The strict equal-size requirement introduced in 2020 has been argued to advantage the Conservatives by reducing Labour-leaning inner-city seats with smaller electorates, while opponents argue it simply corrects a previous bias in the opposite direction. Both arguments are available. The answer probably depends on whether the specific choices in the 2020 Act reflected neutral constitutional principle or political calculation, which is a question about legislative intent that the commission’s statutory independence cannot answer because the commission applies the criteria it is given rather than questioning where they came from.
Auf Wiedersehen, amigo!
Four independent Boundary Commissions conduct five-yearly reviews; constituencies must be within 5% of the electoral quota of approximately 73,000 registered voters. Parliament can approve or reject commission recommendations but not amend them. The 2023 review produced the most significant redrawing since the 1980s, implemented before the 2024 general election. True gerrymandering — deliberate partisan boundary manipulation — is prevented by the independent commission process; the subtler question of whether the statutory criteria are politically neutral is contested. The American system, where state legislatures draw congressional boundaries, produces gerrymandering so blatant that British boundary politics looks admirably restrained by comparison, which is the appropriate comparison and an appropriately modest standard.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
