A majority of 566 MEPs voted in favour of a proposal on the redistribution of British seats in the EU parliament post-Brexit this Wednesday, while 94 voted against and 31 abstained.

Of the 73 British seats, 46 will be placed in reserve and 27 will be redistributed among the 14 EU member states currently under-represented relative to their population.

Ireland will receive two extra seats, bringing Irish representation to 13 MEPs. The other countries to receive multiple extra seats were France and Spain (+5 seats each), and Italy and the Netherlands (+3 each).

Following rubber-stamping by heads of government at the next EU summit at the end of this month, the new distribution will apply to the May 2019 election, provided that the UK has effectively left the EU by then.

It will give Ireland more voices in decisions involving the European Parliament, including agricultural policy, budgets as well as environment and health legislation.

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