Editing Gerrymandering (section)

====United Kingdom – Boundary review====
The number of electors in a [[List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies|United Kingdom constituency]] can vary considerably, with the smallest constituency as of 2017 (Scotland's [[Na h-Eileanan an Iar (UK Parliament constituency)|Na h-Eileanan an Iar]] (21,769 constituents) and [[Orkney and Shetland (UK Parliament constituency)|Orkney and Shetland]] (34,552)) having fewer than a fifth of the electors of the largest (England's [[North West Cambridgeshire]] (93,223) and [[Isle of Wight (UK Parliament constituency)|Isle of Wight]] (110,697)). This variation has resulted from:

*[[Scotland]] and [[Wales]] being favored in the Westminster Parliament with deliberately smaller electoral quotas (average electors per constituency) than those in [[England]] and [[Northern Ireland]]. This inequality was initiated by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1958, which eliminated the previous common electoral quota for the whole United Kingdom and replaced it with four separate national quotas for the respective Boundaries commissions to work to: England 69,534; Northern Ireland 67,145; Wales 58,383; and Scotland 54,741.
* Current rules historically favoring geographically "natural"{{clarify|date=April 2014}} constituencies such as islands, which continue to give Wales and Scotland proportionally greater representation.
* Population migrations, due to [[white flight]] and [[deindustrialization]] tending to decrease the number of electors in inner-city districts.

Under the [[Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies]], the [[Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition agreement|Coalition government]] planned to review and redraw the parliamentary constituency boundaries for the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]]. The review and redistricting was to be carried out by the [[boundary commissions (United Kingdom)|four UK boundary commissions]] to produce a reduction from 650 to 600 seats, and more uniform sizes, such that a [[United Kingdom constituencies|constituency]] was to have no fewer than 70,583 and no more than 80,473 electors. The process was intended to address historic [[malapportionment]] and be complete by 2015.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19166125 | title=Q&A: Boundary changes | publisher=BBC | date=29 January 2013 | access-date=14 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/results/default.stm | title=Election 2010 Results | publisher=BBC | date=6 May 2010 | access-date=14 February 2013}}</ref> Preliminary reports suggesting the areas set to lose the fewest seats historically tended to vote [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]], while other less populous and deindustrialized regions, such as Wales, which would lose a larger proportion of its seats, tending to have more [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] and [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] voters, partially correcting the existing malapportionment. In January 2013, an opposition (Labour) motion to suspend the review until after the next general election was tabled in the House of Lords and a vote called in the [[United Kingdom House of Commons]]. The motion was passed with the help of the Liberal Democrats, going back on an election pledge. {{as of|2016|October|}}, a new review is in progress and a draft of the new boundaries has been published.{{Update inline|date=June 2023}}