Boundary all set to change
South Perthshire seat in firing line
Plans to abolish the Ochil and South Perthshire parliamentary constituency have taken a step forward.
This week the Boundary Commission published its final recommendations for new parliamentary boundaries, cutting the number of MPs from 650 to 600.
The change involves reducing the number of Scottish MPs from 59 to 53.
The proposals would see the end of the Ochil and South Perthshire constituency, currently held by Conservative MP Luke Graham.
The constituency would be merged with neighbouring regions to create a new seat called Stirlingshire, Strathearn and Kinross.
Pete Wishart’s Perth and North Perthshire seat would remain but it would also cover Luncarty and Bankfoot, which was part of the constituency until 2005.
The proposals have been welcomed by Mr Graham, despite the fact his seat would no longer exist. He said it would save the taxpayer money.
He added: “The Boundary Commission is an independent body and these recommendations have come on the back of a number of years’ worth of consultation.
“These proposals achieve the government manifesto pledge to reduce the number of politicians and lower the cost of politics in the UK.
“I was elected to be the member of parliament for Ochil and South Perthshire and will proudly continue
Luke Graham said the move would save taxpayers money
to do so.”
However, The move has been criticised by Pete Wishart, who said: “It is disappointing to see that the UK Government remains committed to seeing Scotland’s voice cut by six MPs.
“Given the number of Conservative MPs who could lose seats as a result of these changes, it remains to be seen if the PM will even get it through parliament.
“Whilst the proposals for my constituency are only slightly different from the current boundary, it is unacceptable that the voices of directly-elected MPs will be slashed while the House of Lords continues to grow.”
If the proposals are taken forward the new constituencies would be more equal in population size, with each MP given responsibility for representing between 71,031 and 78,507 people.
Under the recommendations Perth and North Perthshire would cover a population of 72,831 and Stirlingshire, Strathearn and Kinross would cover 71,299 residents.
Sam Hartley, secretary to the Boundary Commission, said: “We’re confident the new map of constituencies best reflects the rules set for us by parliament and we’re especially pleased that our recommendations are based heavily on what members of the public have told us about their local areas.”
The proposal for the Stirlingshire, Strathearn and Kinross constituency was not the first suggestion on the table.
Initially the commission suggested creating a Kinross-shire and Cowdenbeath constituency, which faced criticism due to a lack of historic, economic, natural, social or geographical links between rural Perthshire and urban Fife.
The boundary commission was supposed to redraw the political map every five years to accommodate population shifts.
This policy was abandoned in 2013 when the Liberal Democrats withdrew their support after disagreeing with their then Conservative partners.
ItisunacceptablethatthevoicesofelectedMPswillbeslashed