To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a draft of the ballot paper which would be issued to voters before the second reading of the European Parliamentary Elections Bill. [16957]

The final format of the ballot paper for elections to the European Parliament has not yet been determined. Parliament will be able to approve the final design. I have, however, placed a copy of an initial sketch in the Library.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people will be eligible to vote in the European Parliament elections in (a) each of the English regions upon which the proposed new constituencies will be based, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland. [17060]

[holding answer 21 November 1997]: The number of people eligible to vote in the next elections to the European Parliament in June 1999 will depend on the number of people on the relevant electoral registers on polling day. The number of people on the local government electoral registers in each of the proposed English electoral regions and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on 16 February 1997 was as follows:

	Number
East Midlands	3,167,433
Eastern	4,027,466
London	5,027,796
North East	1,984,212
North West	5,214,413
South East	5,988,686
South West	3,747,003
West Midlands	4,032,835
Yorkshire and The Humber	3,811,254
Scotland	3,995,923
Wales	2,226,923
Northern Ireland	1,190,977

The number of people entitled to vote in an election to the European Parliament would be slightly smaller since not all European Union citizens on the local government register chose to exercise their right to vote in European Parliamentary elections in the United Kingdom.