MEPs - simple figures please

[Coldicote]

I guess I'm not alone in struggling to come to grips with the complex proportional representation system but think I've now got the hang of it. Even so, I've yet to find a simple answer to a simple question. How many MEPs is the UK entitled to have in the EU Parliament and how many for each of our voting regions? I'm sure someone out there will know the answer please.

[Gromit]

The UK has 69 seats this time (excluding Northern Ireland).

There is not a precise figure per seat, but it is roughly 650,000 per seat.

The seats are allocated per region on population sizes, so for example London will get 8 seats, while the North East gets just 3.

[Rollo]

Look at each of the 12 regions here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/election s/euro/09/html/ukregion_999999.stm

[Ankou]

There are 736 seats in the 2009 european parliamentary elections, representing 671,000 citizens per MEP adjusted by degressive proportionality. Uk is approximately 761,538 inhabitants per MEP.

UK MEPs are elected on a regional basis to 12 electoral regions (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and 9 regions in England), with the number of MEPs returned being roughly in proportion to the size of the electorate in each region. in june 2009 this stands at:

East Midlands (6)
Eastern (8)
London (10)
North East (4)
North West (10)
South East (11)
South West (7)
West Midlands (8)
Yorkshire & the Humber (7)
Wales (5)
Scotland (8)
Northern Ireland (3)

[Coldicote]

Many thanks for your good answers. I am wondering though why the figures quoted by Ankou don't add up to the 69 seats (excluding N. Ireland) given by Gromit.

[Gromit]

There are less seats this time than in 2004.

The correct allocation of seats per region is:

East Midlands (5)
Eastern (7)
London (8)
North East (3)
North West (8)
South East (10)
South West (6)
West Midlands (8)
Yorkshire & the Humber (6)
Wales (4)
Scotland (6)
Northern Ireland (3)

[Gromit]

West Midlands should be 6

[Ankou]

Sorry my numbers were a bit skew-iff gromit was right. The uk has 72 seats this time round.

East Midlands (5)
Eastern (7)
London (8)
North East (3)
North West (8)
South East (10)
South West (6)
West Midlands (6)
Yorkshire & the Humber (6)
Wales (4)
Scotland (6)
Northern Ireland (3)