Boundary Commission publishes proposed new Scotland constituencies

The Boundary Commission for Scotland has published its Revised Proposals for UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland as part of its 2018 Review.

It marks the start of an 8 week public consultation process running until Monday 11 December 2017.

The Commission has prepared revised proposals following feedback on its initial proposals, which were published in October 2016.

The number of constituencies in Scotland is set to decrease from 59 to 53, and two of these (Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland) are defined in legislation and will not be subject to change.

Each of the remaining 51 constituencies must not exceed the maximum permitted area of 13,000 square kilometres; and be within five per cent of the UK electoral quota of 74,769.2 (ie to have between 71,031 and 78,507 electors), except where a constituency is larger than 12,000 square kilometres when it may have fewer than 71,031 electors.

Lord Matthews, deputy chair of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, said: “After careful consideration of all of the comments received during the consultations on the Initial Proposals, the Commission has designed this revised set of constituencies. Where the legislation has allowed it, we have tried to respond to the views expressed to us. However, in some areas, we have been unable to make changes because of the constraints on constituency design within which we work.”

Lord Matthews added: “This is the final opportunity we have to obtain views on our proposals so we can further improve them where the legislation allows us to do so. I hope people will take the opportunity to contribute, whether for or against what we have proposed.”

Of the 51 mainland constituencies in the revised proposals: 12 constituencies are unchanged from the initial proposals; 7 constituencies have only their name changed; 11 constituencies have only their boundaries changed; and 21 constituencies have both their name and boundaries changed.