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PUBLIC LAW

October 2011 newsletterHilaire Barnett

PUBLIC ORDER LAW

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill 2010 2011 received the Royal Assent on 15September 2011. Part 3 of the Act amends the law relating to demonstrations in ParliamentSquare. Section 141 repeals sections 132 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime Act (SOCA) 2005which previously regulated demonstrations and the use of loudspeakers in the vicinity ofParliament.

The 2011 Act now provides that a police officer ma direct a person to cease doing, or not to startdoing, a prohibited activity in Parliament Square. A prohibited activity includes operatingamplified noise equipment, erecting or keeping erected a tent or other structure designed oradapted for the purpose of facilitating sleeping or staying in a place for any period, or the use ofany such structure. Section 143(8) makes it an offence to fail to comply with a direction given andempowers the court, on summary conviction, to impose a fine. In addition section 146 providesthat a court may make an order for the forfeiture of any item used in the commission of theoffence, and/or an order prohibiting the person from entering the controlled area, or make suchother order as the court considers appropriate for the purpose of preventing the person fromengaging in any prohibited activity in the controlled area of Parliament Square.

ELECTORAL LAW

The Boundary Commission for England has now published its proposals for reform ofconstituency boundaries in England. The review of boundaries was necessitated by the CoalitionGovernments commitment to reduce the number of seats in the United Kingdom Parliament from650 to 600 by 2015, a commitment given statutory effect by the Parliamentary Voting System andConstituencies Act 2011. In relation to England the total number of constituencies will be reducedfrom 533 to 502. The new rules give greater emphasis to the need for equality in the number ofvoters in each constituency. With the exception of two protected constituencies, on which seebelow, each constituency must have a number of registered electors that is no more than five percent lower or higher than the electoral quota (74,641) which translates into each constituencyhaving between 72,810 and 80,473 electors.

In relation to London, with a total electorate of 5,266,904, it is recommended that there be areduction in constituencies from 73 to 68. Only four of the existing London constituencies remainunchanged.

The 2011 Act amends the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, replacing the rules in Schedule

2. The new rules are set out in section 11 of the 2011 Act, inserting a new Schedule 2 into the 1986Act. The new Schedule 2 provides (in part):

1. The number of constituencies in the United Kingdom shall be 600.2. (1) The electorate of any constituency shall be

(a) no less than 95 per cent of the United Kingdom electoral quota, and(b) no more than 105 per cent of that quota.

(2) This rule is subject to rules 4(2), 6(3) and 7.

(3) In this Schedule the United Kingdom electoral quota means U

596

Where U is the electorate of the United Kingdom minus the electorate of theconstituencies mentioned in rule 6.

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3. (1) Each constituency shall be wholly in one of the four parts of the United Kingdom(England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland).

(2) ....

4. (1) A constituency shall not have an area of more than 13,000 square kilometres.(2) A constituency does not have to comply with rule 2(1)(a) if(a) it has an area of more than 12,000 square kilometres, and(b) the Boundary Commission concerned are satisfied that it is not reasonably possible forthe constituency to comply with that rule.

5. (1) A Boundary Commission may take into account, if and to such extent as they think fit (a) special geographical considerations, including in particular the size, shape andaccessibility of a constituency.(b) local government boundaries as they exist on the most recent ordinary council-electionday before the review date;(c) boundaries of existing constituencies;(d) any local ties that would be broken by changes in constituencies;

(e) the inconveniences attendant on such changes.(2) The Boundary Commission for England may take into account, if and to such extent asthey think fit, boundaries of the electoral regions specified in Schedule 1 to the EuropeanParliamentary Elections Act 2002 (ignoring paragraph 2(2) of that Schedule and thereferences to Gibraltar) as it has effect on the most recent ordinary council-election daybefore the review date.(3) This rule has effect subject to rules 2 and 4.

The 2011 Act makes provision for two constituencies to be given special treatment, beingregarded as protected constituencies. Rule 6 of the new Schedule 2 provides that:

6. (1) There shall be two constituencies in the Isle of Wight.(2) There shall continue to be (a) a constituency named Orkney and Shetland, comprising the areas of the Orkney

Islands Council and the Shetland Islands Council;(b) a constituency named Na h-Eileanan an law, comprising the area of Comhairle nanEilean Siar.(3) Rule 2 does not apply to these constituencies.

England is divided into nine electoral regions, and the recommendations for each region can befound on the Boundary Commissions website. The final decisions as to constituency boundarieswill be made following public consultation. Representations will be published in spring 2012 andfurther revisions may be made before the final recommendations are presented before 1 October2013. The recommendations will be subject to parliamentary approval.

STATE SECURITY

In May 2011 the Government introduced the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures(TPIM) Bill. The Bill is designed to replace the system of Control Orders. A review of counter-terrorism and security powers also recommended that additional powers might be needed to dealwith exceptional circumstances. The draft Enhanced Terrorism Prevention and InvestigationMeasures Bill 2011 was published in September 2011 in order to be given pre-legislative scrutiny.