| Review of: | One Vote, One Value: electoral re-districting in English local government by Colin Rallings, Michael Thrasher, James Downe |
|---|---|
| Reviewed By: | Jim Chandler |
| Reviewed in: | Political Studies Review |
| Date accepted online: | 04/03/2004 |
| Published in print: | Volume 1, Issue 2, Pages 196-301 |
Britain and Ireland
This well-researched study examines in some detail the process of review and subsequent restructuring of local government electoral boundaries. The book begins with a useful short history of the process for reviewing parliamentary constituency and local government boundaries since 1945, noting the important links between restructuring constituencies and restructuring electoral wards for local authorities. The study then considers the detailed procedures for local government boundary review and, in the central chapters, the political and administrative processes through which the boundary commission, local authorities and local political parties interrelate to develop the final outcome of the process. The process is illustrated with a number of case studies of electoral ward reviews relating to both unitary metropolitan authorities and county and districts. The study concludes with a critical review of the effectiveness of the system in securing an outcome that approximates to securing electoral wards of equal size and outcomes that are not favourable to a particular party. In general, they argue, the system adopts an impartial approach that does not favour particular parties and consequently avoids radical change wherever possible.
The study is based on thorough research and provides a highly detailed analysis which creates a very convincing understanding of the process of electoral review at the local level. It is not textbook material, but provides a valuable account of the review process that will for many years be seen as the standard work on this subject and be regarded as an authoritative study that will inform many later more general views of the electoral process in Britain and of the politics of local government. It is a study that should find a place in any library concerned with British politics.