MP could be cut from city in proposals
Glasgow could lose an MP at Westminster. The Boundary Commission for Scotland has launched an eight-week public consultation on the proposals, which would see the number of MPs returned to Westminster go from 59 in previous votes to 57.
Glasgow and the north of Scotland would be the places which would lose seats, while widespread changes would see boundaries shift and constituencies renamed across the country, in the first change since 2005.
In comparison, England will see an increase of 10 MPs, while Wales will lose eight, if the changes are implemented. Northern Ireland is set to remain on the same number of seats.
The proposals look to resolve parity issues in the number of voters in constituencies.
The commission hopes any changes will be in place by 2024, when the next general election is expected.
The parameters of the review have said the number of voters in each constituency must fall between about 70,000 and 77,000, unless the area would cover more than 12,000 square kilometres. Lord Matthews, the deputy chair of the commission and the person leading the review, said: “I believe this is a promising start to delivering the requirements of the new rules that mean the number of constituencies in Scotland will reduce from 59 to 57, and that each mainland constituency must have broadly the same number of electors.
“We have set out proposals today which do that and are, we believe, a good implementation of the rules set by Parliament. Today is the beginning of a process, and we now want to hear the views of the public. We will reflect on responses to the consultation and make changes where appropriate and where the legislation allows us to do so.
“We welcome all comments on our proposals on our consultation site at bcs2023review.com. We particularly want to hear suggestions on two aspects, suggestions for alternative boundaries that comply with the legislative requirements and constituency names.”
In a briefing on the changes, Professor Ailsa Henderson, said: “The result of that is that there is a wide range of electors across the existing Scottish constituencies.
“The constituency with the smallest electorate is Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross which has 46,000 – almost 47,000 electors – but the constituency with the largest electorate is in Linlithgow and East Falkirk with 88,000 electors, which is a range of around 41,000 electors.”