Citation 2002 c.24 | Royal assent 24 July 2002 | |
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Long title An Act to consolidate the European Parliamentary Elections Acts 1978, 1993 and 1999. | ||
The European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 (c.24) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom governing elections to the European Parliament.
Contents
The Act divided the United Kingdom into various regions to which were allocated a number of seats. England was divided into nine regions with a total of 71 seats, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were divided into a single region each, with 8, 5 and 3 seats respectively and for the first time allowed the participation of Gibraltar which was placed within the South West England constituency for the purpose of the elections.
2011 AV & 2016 EU Referendums
The legal provisions for the appointment of "Regional returning officers" and also the twelve European Parliamentary Regional constituencies areas of the United Kingdom under this Act were also used under the titles of "Regional counting officers" and "Regional counting areas" in the legislation enacted for the holding of both the 2011 AV Referendum under the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 and the 2016 EU Referendum under the European Union Referendum Act 2015.
Repeal
Following the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union on 23 June 2016 which resulted in a majority vote in favour of leaving the European Union it is expected that this act will be repealed with the 2014 European Parliament election being the last to be held under the legislation.