Marriage split MP faces job fight in cuts to constituencies
SEX scandal Nationalist MP Stewart Hosie is facing a battle for his job because of wideranging changes to Scotland’s constituency boundaries.
The former SNP deputy leader – who separated from his wife, the SNP Health Secretary Shona Robison, after being exposed for having an affair – will see his Dundee East seat disappear.
Scotland’s only remaining Labour MP, Ian Murray, will be hit by a similar change to his Edinburgh South seat.
Across Scotland, the number of MPs will fall from 59 to 53 as part of a UKwide plan to cut the cost of Parliament and ensure seats are roughly equal in population for the first time.
The SNP could be badly affected, with many of its MPs likely to face selection battles with each other as the number of seats in their area is reduced.
The Boundary Commission for Scotland’s initial proposals, published today, are due to be implemented before the 2020 General Election.
Mr Hosie’s Dundee East seat will be merged with neighbouring Angus,
‘Tory proposals are unacceptable’
currently held by fellow Nationalist Mike Weir, to form a new Angus Glens & Dundee East constituency.
It means Mr Hosie could have to battle it out with Mr Weir, a fellow long-serving MP, or opt to stand against Chris Law, the Nationalist Dundee West MP.
Mr Hosie could have to seek the votes of supporters of Miss Robison, who represents Dundee City East in the Scottish parliament.
The pair split earlier this year after the Scottish Daily Mail revealed he had an affair with Oxford-educated journalist Serena Cowdy, who had also previously had a relationship with SNP Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil.
Under the commission’s proposals, only three of the 59 seats north of the border will remain completely unchanged: Orkney and Shetland, Western Isles and East Lothian.
A further 16 have retained their names but will see changes to a greater or lesser extent. The abolition of the remaining 40 will see a scramble for the 34 new constituencies which replace them.
Under the plans, Mr Murray will see his constituency disappear, absorbed into the new expanded Edinburgh East and Edinburgh South West & Central seats. He could face a battle against current Nationalist MPs Tommy Sheppard, in Edinburgh East, or Joanna Cherry, in Edinburgh South West.
The Glasgow seats will be reduced from seven to six, with Nationalist MPs Carol Monaghan and Patrick Grady likely to need to do battle for selection to stand in their merged seat of Glasgow North.
The Central Ayrshire seat of SNP health spokesman Philippa Whitford is squeezed by the new Ayr & Carrick, Kilmarnock, Cumnock & Doon Valley, and Cunninghame West constituencies.
In Fife, Nationalist MP Roger Mullin is threatened as his Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath constituency is absorbed into the new Kinross-shire & Cowdenbeath, and Glenrothes & Kirkcaldy seats.
The Highland region reduces from three seats to two, with Ian Blackford’s Ross, Skye & Lochaber seat and SNP transport spokesman Drew Hendry’s Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey seat largely absorbed into the new Inverness and Skye constituency.
Scotland’s only Tory MP, Scottish Secretary David Mundell, will see his Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale constituency replaced by the Clydesdale & Eskdale, and Midlothian & Peebles seats.
Consultation on the initial proposals runs until January 11, with final proposals due to be submitted for UK Parliament approval in September 2018.
But Labour, the SNP and the Lib Dems are opposed to many of the changes and could look to team up with rebel Tory MPs to block them.
Last night, Mr Murray said: ‘Tory proposals to redraw constituency boundaries are unfair, undemocratic and unacceptable.’
SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson said: ‘It is outrageous and undemocratic the UK Government is planning to cut the number of Scottish MPs while it continues to pack the unelected and unaccountable House of Lords with yet more Tory donors and cronies.’
Lord Matthews, deputy chairman of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, said it believes the proposals are a ‘good implementation of the rules set by Parliament’.