European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003
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Gibraltar
| Act of Parliament | |
.svg) | |
| Long title | An Act to make provision enabling alterations to be made to the total number of Members of the European Parliament to be elected for the United Kingdom and to their distribution between the electoral regions; to make provision for and in connection with the establishment of an electoral region including Gibraltar for the purposes of European Parliamentary elections; and for connected purposes. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 2003 c. 7 |
| Introduced by | The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department,Yvette Cooper (Commons) |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom Gibraltar |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 8 May 2003 |
| Repealed | 31 December 2020 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The European Parliament (Representation) Act 2003 (c. 7) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The act made provision for a reduction in the number of Members of the European Parliament who represent the United Kingdom (see Treaty of Nice). Gibraltar was enfranchised by adding it to the South West England constituency after taking the British Government to the European Court of Justice.[1][2]
The number of seats each region was allocated is as follows:[3]
- East Midlands 6
- Eastern 8
- London 10
- North East 4
- North West 10
- South East 11
- South West 7
- West Midlands 8
- Yorkshire and the Humber 7
- Scotland 8
- Wales 5
- Northern Ireland 3
The addition of Gibraltar to the English constituency gave rise to some problems concerning the jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales and the Courts of Gibraltar over which would have power to hear election petitions, this can be seen by some of the discussions held in the Standing Committee during the bill stage.[4]
Reception
The Spanish government criticised the inclusion of Gibraltar under South West England, stating that Gibraltar should have formed its own standalone constituency.[5] The Spanish government also criticised the British electoral law for allowing Commonwealth citizens who live in the UK to vote in European elections, even if they are not EU citizens.[5]
