§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the Boundary Commission is expected to commence its inquiries for a review of the European parliamentary constituencies in Essex and to make recommendations.
§ Mr. Peter LloydUnder the provisions of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1978, the boundary commission for England is required to begin its revision of all European parliamentary constituencies in England, including those in Essex, when its current general reviews of constituencies for our Parliament has been completed, and an Order in Council has been made implementing the recommendations.
The target for completing that review has been set by the Boundary Commissions Act 1992 as 31 December 1994.
We shall, however, need to make some special arrangements, in time for the June 1994 European parliamentary elections, to give effect to the decision of the European Council to increase the number of seats for the United Kingdom by six. The Government are developing proposals on how best that might be done.