The Arbuthnott Commission on Boundary Differences and Voting Systems was set up in July 2004 by Alistair Darling

Alistair Darling

Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...

, then Secretary of State for Scotland

Secretary of State for Scotland

The Secretary of State for Scotland is the principal minister of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Scotland. He heads the Scotland Office , a government department based in London and Edinburgh. The post was created soon after the Union of the Crowns, but was...

, under the chairmanship of Sir John Arbuthnott

John Peebles Arbuthnott

Sir John Peebles Arbuthnott is a Scottish microbiologist, and was Principal of the University of Strathclyde. He succeeded Lord Wilson of Tillyorn as President of The Royal Society of Edinburgh in October 2011....

, to examine various consequences of having four different systems of voting in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, and different boundaries for constituencies

United Kingdom constituencies

In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

 of the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 (Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

, at Westminster

Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...

) and the Scottish Parliament

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...

 (Holyrood

Scottish Parliament Building

The Scottish Parliament Building is the home of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh. Construction of the building commenced in June 1999 and the Members of the Scottish Parliament held their first debate in the new building on 7...

).

In 2004, Scotland had three different voting systems: plurality

Plurality voting system

The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...

 (first past the post) for Westminster and local government

Local government of Scotland

Local government in Scotland is organised through 32 unitary authorities designated as Councils which consist of councillors elected every four years by registered voters in each of the council areas....

 elections, and two different systems of proportional representation (PR)

Proportional representation

Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

 for European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 and Scottish Parliament elections. The number of systems was due to rise to four in 2007, with the introduction of a third PR system for local government elections.

Also, until 2004, legislation required Scottish Parliament constituencies to have generally the same boundaries as Scottish Westminster constituencies. This link was broken by the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004

Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004

The Scottish Parliament Act 2004 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that amends the Scotland Act 1998 which established the Scottish Parliament....

, and a new set of Westminster constituencies was created in 2005. Scottish Parliament constituencies remain as they were when created in 1999.

The commission published its final report in January 2006, making various recommendations. Full implementation of the commission's recommendations would be beyond the competence of the Scottish Parliament, and would require Westminster legislation.

Consultation

All the main political parties in Scotland participated in a consultation process. So did 22 local government councils, and various other bodies and individuals.

Recommendations

The commission's main recommendations for change may be summarised as follows:

• The mixed member proportional system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament should be revised. In order to give voters more choice over the election of regional members, the closed list system should be replaced by open lists, enabling voters to choose between individual regional list candidates.
• This revised electoral system, if implemented, should be reviewed following experience of two elections. If further reform is judged necessary, consideration should be given at that time to introducing the single transferable vote system for Scottish Parliament elections.
• The boundaries of all electoral divisions should be based on local government council areas. Therefore, in the future, so far as possible, boundaries for council areas, Scottish Parliament constituencies and Westminster constituencies should be reviewed together.
• The single transferable vote system should be introduced for elections to the European Parliament, so reducing the number of election systems to three.
• Scottish Parliament elections and local government elections should be held on separate days, to reduce voter confusion due to using different voting systems
• Measures should be introduced to keep voters better informed about voting systems, election results and the responsibilities of elected representatives
• Electronic developments should be adopted to provide citizens with a more direct voice in political processes.

The commission's complete website has been archived