Have your say on plans for boundary changes
Lanarkshire’s elec toral map is set to be redrawn under new proposals for future Westminster elections published by the Boundary Commission for Scotland.
Public consultation is now under way on the initial plans – which include reuniting the town of Hamilton within one constituency, separating areas currently under the same MP including Chryston from Coatbridge and Kilsyth from Cumbernauld, plus a new seat stretching from Motherwell to Tarbrax in South Lanarkshire.
New boundaries are needed under legislation requiring that all 650 UK constituencies have between 69,724 and 77,062 electors – which results in a reduction of two MPs in Scotland and eight in Wales, while 10 new seats will be created in England.
The proposals would see the current Motherwell & Wishaw seat join up with two South Lanarkshire wards covering Carluke and Forth to form a new Motherwell & Clydesdale North seat.
Coatbridge & Bellshill would see its current area of Chryston move into Kelvin South alongside Cumbernauld and Stepps; while the revised Airdrie & Shotts would also now include Cleland, and the North Lanarkshire ward of Kilsyth would go into a Kelvin North seat with Torrance, Bearsden and Milngavie.
A Hamilton & Clyde Valley constituency would include that town plus Lanark and Lesmahagow, with the latter moving out of a renamed East Kilbride & Strathaven; while the new Rutherglen constituency would incorporate Cambuslang, Blantyre and Uddingston.
Residents, politicians and interested parties now have eight weeks to share their views, with public hearings then taking place early next year, to be followed by a second consultation on any revised proposals.
The Boundary Commission for Scotland will then submit finalised recommendations to the UK parliament in July 2023, with the new seats potentially coming into effect at the general election due the following year.
Its deputy chair, Lord Matthews, 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 which do that and are, we believe, a good implementation of the rules set by parliament ; [this] is the beginning of a process, and we now want to hear the views of the public.”
He added: “We welcome all comments [and] particularly want to hear suggestions on two aspects – suggestions for alternative boundaries that comply with the legislative requirements, and constituency names.
“We will reflect on responses to the consultation and make changes where appropriate and where the legislation allows us to do so.
“We strongly encourage voters to make their views heard.”
The current constituency boundaries have been in place for 16 years and have been used at the five general elections since then.
Boundary Commission panel members said “significant” changes were required across Scotland to achieve the required reduction of two seats, with factors being taken into consideration including local ties, council ward boundaries and geographical considerations.
A previous proposed review which would have seen Airdrie divided between two different seats was dropped after the UK parliament decided against plans to reduce the number of MPs by 50; while people power won out in a 2016 review of council boundaries which suggested moving an Airdrie community into a Coatbridge council ward.
The current consultation plans are available at www.bcs2023review.com, which includes maps of the potential constituencies.