General information

The electoral regions

The United Kingdom has been divided into 12 regions, each returning between three and ten Members to the European Parliament (MEPS). Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will each constitute a single region. England will be divided into nine regions. Plymouth, along with Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Scilly Isles, Somerset, Wiltshire, the former County of Avon and Gibraltar have been grouped together to form the South West Region returning six MEPs.

Each electoral region elected the following numbers of MEPs in June 2009:

• East Midlands: 5 (one less than in 2004)
• Eastern region: 7
• London: 8 (one less than in 2004)
• North East: 3
• North West: 8 (one less than in 2004)
• South East: 10
• South West: 6 (one less than in 2004)
• West Midlands: 6 (one less than in 2004)
• Yorkshire and the Humber: 6
• Wales: 4
• Scotland: 6 (one less than in 2004)
• Northern Ireland: 3

A total of 72 MEPs are to be elected for the United Kingdom.

Proportional representation

When voting in the European Parliamentary election in England, Scotland or Wales we will elect our Members of the European Parliament (MEP) using the system called 'closed regional lists'.

Political parties will put forward several candidates within each European Parliamentary electoral region, Plymouth is part of the South West region. This list of candidates is known as the 'regional list'.

Political parties will prioritise its list of candidates so those at the top of the list will have a better chance of becoming an MEP than those at the bottom.

You will have one vote only to choose the party or individual candidate you wish to vote for. This is why the list is said to be 'closed'. The only time it is possible to vote for an individual is if there is an independent candidate, not standing for a political party.

This voting procedure, is designed to ensure that in each region parties or individual candidates will win a share of the seats which is broadly proportional to their share of the vote in that region.

Go to the European Parliament pages to find out more.