How many constituencies are there in the UK and how many MPs are elected to the House of Commons?
Voters in the UK will go to the polls on Thursday, July 4, to elect their representatives to the House of Commons in the first general election since 2019.
Voters in the United Kingdom are expected to shake up British politics as they troop to the polls on Thursday, July 4. It has been just over a month since Rishi Sunak, current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced that the elections scheduled for fall would be brought forward to July 4.
The date has arrived, and now millions of people will cast their ballot to choose the deputies who will make up the House of Commons.
Recent surveys indicate that these general elections will result in the removal of Sunak, whom the latest polls showed to be lagging behind the Labor Party. The United Kingdom uses a political system different from the one which the United States utilizes.
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What are constituencies in the UK and how many are there?
Constituencies in the United Kingdom are territorial divisions or electoral districts used to elect the deputies that make up the House of Commons, or the Lower House of Parliament. Each constituency represents a geographic area with roughly equal populations.
The objective of this system is to guarantee that each member of parliament (MP) represents a similar number of constituents.
There are 650 constituencies which are distributed across the four countries that make up the United Kingdom:
- England: The largest share, with 543 constituencies.
- Scotland: 57 constituencies.
- Wales: 32 constituencies.
- Northern Ireland: 18 constituencies.
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How many MPs are elected to the House of Commons?
Each of the constituencies will elect one MP to the House of Commons, meaning voters in the United Kingdom will be voting for 650 MPs in total. The boundaries and number of constituencies can be reviewed and adjusted by independent Boundary Commissions to reflect changes in population and ensure fair representation.