§ 44. Mr. Speedasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is now the average electorate for an English constituency, dividing the total electorate in the new register by the total number of English constituencies.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees:The provisional total 1970 electorate for England is 32,962,000, which gives an average electorate of 64,500.
§ 45. Mr. Speedasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the parliamentary constituencies in England which contain within their boundaries the whole or parts of two, three, four, or five and more district councils, respectively;
50W(2) if he will list the parliamentary constituencies in England which contain within their boundaries the whole or parts of two, three, four or five and more boroughs, respectively;
(3) if he will list the constituencies in England which contain within their boundaries the whole or parts of two, three, four or five and more counties or county boroughs, respectively.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees:As the information is given in a large number of tables, I am sending details to the hon. Member and arranging for a copy to be placed in the Library.
§ Mr. Speedasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many written complaints his Department has received over the past three years from Members of Parliament, local authorities or political parties about the problems of constituencies containing a multiplicity of local authorities.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees:None. My right hon. Friend has received a few representations about the problems of local authority areas which are at present divided between too many constituencies.
§ Mr. Speedasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the parliamentary constituencies in England within whose boundaries there have been changes in the local government electoral wards or divisions in the 12th months ended 1st April, 1970.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees:The following is the information relating to changes in county electoral divisions or borough wards which took effect during the period. Complete information relating to other changes is not available.
- Bury St. Edmunds.
- Esher.
- Grimsby.
- Kingston-Upon-Hull East.
- Lichfield and Tamworth.
- Normanton.
- Oxford.
- Pontefract.
- Twickenham.
- Wigan.
- Windsor.
§ Mr. Speedasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list, on the information so far available to him, all constituencies in England whose 51W total electorates, including 18-year-old voters qualified to vote before 14th February, 1971 for the current year are 80,000 and over and 40,000 and under; and if he will list the percentage increases in electorate compared with the Electoral Register for 1969–70.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees:Following are the 83 constituencies in England with 1970 electorates (including those qualified to vote by 15th February, 1971) of 80,000 or more; and the 20 with electorates of 40,000 or less; together with the percentage increase or decrease over the corresponding figure for 1969.
52W
Constituency 1970 electorate Percentage increase (—decrease) Billericay 124,215 9.5 Epping 116,354 10.1 Portsmouth, Langstone 113,552 8.5 Hitchin 109,704 10.4 Wokingham 109,350 10.0 Huyton 108,301 13.1 Cheadle 107,925 7.9 Horsham 106,552 10.1 Harborough 103,981 9.0 South Bedfordshire 101,942 8.4 Gosport and Fareham 101,539 8.0 Arundel and Shoreham 100,941 6.1 South East Essex 100,851 7.0 Hornchurch 100,546 7.3 Meriden 100,438 17.9 Hemel Hempstead 100,306 9.7 Brierley Hill 98,287 8.4 Birmingham, Northfield 97,435 9.0 Wycombe 96,490 9.1 Kettering 95,564 8.6 Wirral 95,097 7.8 Woking 94,508 8.4 South Buckinghamshire 94,399 8.2 East Hertfordshire 94,206 9.8 Sutton Coldfield 93,328 7.6 Cleveland 92,978 9.6 Basingstoke 92,492 10.8 Melton 91,695 8.1 Ormskirk 91,597 8.8 Cannock 90,556 7.8 North East Derbyshire 90,434 7.8 Leek 90,156 7.0 Newton 90,146 8.2 Carlton 90,106 9.7 Isle of Thanet 89,627 4.7 Banbury 89,559 9.9 Hertford 88,900 8.7 Chelmsford 88,841 8.2 South Gloucestershire 88,083 8.7 Rother Valley 87,932 8.0 Brigg 87,703 8.3 Chichester 87,543 7.4 Coventry East 87,212 8.2 Ipswich 87,124 8.4 Belper 87,100 7.4 East Grinstead 87,050 8.6 Wallsend 86,486 7.0 South West Hertfordshire 86,406 9.5 Newbury 86,352 10.0 Abingdon 86,319 9.3 South Fylde 85,808 8.1
Constituency 1970 electorate Percentage increase (—decrease) North Somerset 85,383 9.3 Esher 85,333 8.6 Henley 85,299 9.6 Maidstone 85,069 8.6 Aldershot 85,010 10.1 Thurrock 84,951 10.2 Eastbourne 84,610 7.0 Gravesend 84,608 6.9 Bromsgrove 84,472 8.1 Sedgfield 84,392 10.6 Don Valley 84,281 7.8 Tonbridge 83,925 7.6 New Forest 83,865 8.0 Torquay 83,249 5.7 Lichfield and Tamworth 82,720 9.1 Harwich 82,580 6.7 Bebbington 82,443 8.3 Walsall South 82,284 7.0 Dartford 82,239 7.3 Sevenoaks 82,165 7.4 South East Derbyshire 82,088 6.6 Dudley 82,041 6.1 Southampton, Itchen 81,470 7.7 Sheffield, Heeley 81,295 5.7 Isle of Wight 81,135 7.6 Solihull 81,013 7.6 Warwick and Leamington 80,862 8.4 Canterbury 80,774 6.1 Leeds North West 80,742 6.5 Plymouth, Sutton 80,681 4.2 Epsom 80,471 6.4 Romford 80,148 8.8 Birmingham, Small Heath 39,209 2.2 Brentford and Chiswick 37,853 3.8 Lambeth, Vauxhall 37,843 4.8 East Ham North 36,896 6.7 Birmingham, All Saints 36,473 -1.5 Bristol Central 36,289 3.4 Walthamstow West 35,380 4.8 Battersea South 34,788 2.9 Liverpool, Exchange 34,626 1.6 Gateshead West 34,594 0.4 Paddington South 34,592 5.1 Bermondsey 34,349 4.4 Paddington North 34,045 2.2 Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central 31,628 -2.2 Manchester, Cheetham 30,614 0.6 Battersea North 30,357 -1.1 Leeds South East 29,973 3.0 Liverpool, Scotland 29,492 -2.8 Manchester, Exchange 21,159 12.0 Birmingham, Ladywood 18,884 3.1
§ Mr. Speedasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the electoral growth over the next five years of the 20 largest English constituencies.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesNone.