§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the electorate is for each(a) constituency and (b) area for the forthcoming European parliamentary elections; how many members are to be elected for each (i) constituency and (ii) area; and what percentage 2W of the electorate voted in the previous European parliamentary elections in each (a) constituency and (b) area, and how many people. [165780]
§ Mr. LeslieThe precise electorate for the 10 June elections will not be known until the register closes on the publication of notice of election. Each European parliamentary electoral region is a single multi-member constituency. The following table shows the UK European parliamentary electoral regions, the number of MEPs to be elected for each region in June, and the local government electorates as at December 2003. The administrative unit for counting the votes in the European parliamentary elections in June is the local authority area. Electorate figures for these are available from the recent Office for National Statistics table "UK Electoral register 1 December 2003: Local government electors", which can be accessed on the ONS website at www.statistics.gov.uk. Statistics relating to the 1999 European parliamentary elections can be found in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin for 29 September 2000 (Issue 16/00, ISSN 1358-510X).
UK European parliamentary electoral region Local government electors at December 2003 Seats to be elected, June 2004 East Midlands 3,241,566 6 Eastern 4,170,840 7 London 5,143,392 9 North East 1,922,446 3 North West 5,188,717 9 South East 6,087,103 10 South West 3,845,253 7 West Midlands 4,016,007 7 Yorkshire and the Humber 3,730,275 6 Wales 2,228,030 4 Scotland 3,877,194 7 Northern Ireland 1,069,136 3 Total 44,519,959 78