The European Parliament (Number of MEPs) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2004

Statutory Instruments

2004 No. 1245

REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE

The European Parliament (Number of MEPs) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2004

Made

27th April 2004

Coming into force

1st May 2004

The Secretary of State, after consultation with the Electoral Commission and in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 5(1) of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003(1), hereby makes the following Order a draft of which has been laid before and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament:

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the European Parliament (Number of MEPs) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2004.

(2) The purpose of this Order is to implement a change in the number of MEPs to be elected for the United Kingdom under the Athens treaty(2).

(3) This Order shall come into force on 1st May 2004.

(4) In this Order, “the Athens treaty” means the treaty referred to in subsection (2)(q) of section 1 of the European Communities Act 1972(3) (which was ratified by the United Kingdom on 18th December 2003).

2.—(1) Section 1 of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002(4) is amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1) (number of MEPs to be elected for the United Kingdom) for “87” substitute “78”.

(3) For subsection (3) substitute—

“(3) The number of MEPs to be elected for each electoral region is as follows(5)—

East Midlands	6
Eastern	7
London	9
North East	3
North West	9
South East	10
South West	7
West Midlands	7
Yorkshire and the Humber	6
Scotland	7
Wales	4
Northern Ireland	3.”.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs

Christopher Leslie

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

Department for Constitutional Affairs

Date 27th April 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order provides for the reduction in United Kingdom members of the European Parliament from 87 to 78 following the accession of 10 new member States to the European Community, when the Athens Treaty comes into force on 1st May 2004. It provides for the division of the seats between the electoral regions.

(1)

2003 c. 7 as amended by S.I. 2003/1887. Section 5 extends to Gibraltar by virtue of S.I. 2004/700 (C. 30).

(2)

Article 11 of the Act of Accession annexed to the Athens Treaty.

(3)

1972 c. 68, as amended by section 1(1) of the European Union (Accessions) Act 2003 (c. 35). The text of this treaty is set out in Cm. 5805.

(4)

2002 c. 24. Section 1 was substituted by section 1, and extended to Gibraltar by section 19, of the European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 (c. 7). Section 1 and the Table in Schedule 1 (areas included in electoral regions) were also amended by the European Parliamentary Elections (Combined Region and Campaign Expenditure) (United Kingdom and Gibraltar) Order 2004 S.I. 2004/366.

(5)

The distribution of seats between the electoral regions under the substituted section 1(3) follows the recommendation of the Electoral Commission.