Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Further chance to have a say on electoral map plans
Monklands residents have a further opportunity to give their views on plans to redraw the area’s electoral map – which would see existing neighbouring areas represented by different MPS, while other new seats would be constructed stretching across council boundaries and from urban to rural areas.
Public hearings are taking place this month in the latest stage of consultation on the Boundary Commission for Scotland (BCS) proposals, which will see the number of Scottish representatives at Westminster reduce by two to 57 to comply with new legislation on creating equalised voter numbers in every UK seat.
More than 50 comments relating to the Lanarkshire plans have already been submitted online, with the majority objecting either to splitting up neighbouring and connected communities, or to some of the unlikely combined areas being created.
A hearing will be held in Glasgow on February 23, with others taking place in Edinburgh, Inverness, Oban and Perth as part of the current secondary consultation running until late March on the plans which were first shared last October.
They include Motherwell and Wishaw joining up with the South Lanarkshire wards of Carluke and Forth to form a new Motherwell & Clydesdale North seat stretching as far east as rural Tarbrax.
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth would be separated into different Kelvin South and North constituencies respectively, with the former including Chryston instead of that area sitting with Coatbridge and Bellshill as at present and the latter combining with areas of East Dunbartonshire.
Hamilton would be reunited into one seat with Lanark and Lesmahagow; while the new Rutherglen constituency would incorporate Cambuslang, Blantyre and Uddingston, and a revised Airdrie & Shotts seat would also now include Cleland and New Stevenston.
Responses to the consultation included describing Wishaw and Tarbrax as “a very odd choice of boundaries” and comments about the unrelated urban and rural natures of parts of the same proposed seat; and objections to dividing Cumbernauld and Kilsyth between two MPS.
There was also criticism of the combinations of Lesmahagow with Hamilton, Motherwell villages going into Airdrie & Shotts, Carnwath and Coalburn going to a Dumfries-based seat, and Bothwell being “lumped in with Rutherglen”.
Anum Qaisar, the Airdrie & Shotts MP, is encouraging constituents to give their views both by taking part in the hearings and consultation, and by sharing their views directly with her.
She told the Advertiser: “I’m keen to hear the views of my constituents on the proposed changes; I’m asking residents to contact my office by emailing anum.mp@parliament.uk with their opinions of the changes proposed, and I also urge people to take part in the public consultation.
“The review will see Scotland’s voice at Westminster weakened, making it harder to oppose Tory cuts, and the changes announced by the Boundary Commission further prove the need for independence.”
The new constituencies are needed under legislation requiring that all 650 UK constituencies have between 69,724 and 77,062 electors; and the public hearings form part of the second consultation ahead of sharing any revisions later this year and developing finalised proposals by July 2023.
BCS deputy chair Lord Matthews said: “Public hearings are an important part of the public consultation process, and we welcome comments on any of our proposals at any of our hearings in Scotland.
“We will reflect on responses to the consultation and make changes if appropriate, where the legislation allows us to do so. “
More information on the review and hearings are available at www.bcs2023review.com, while anyone wishing to speak at a hearing is asked to email bcs@scottishboundaries.gov.uk, and responses to the secondary consultation period can be submitted until March 23.