Boundary chiefs told to drop ‘nonsense’ changes

Boundary chiefs have been told to ditch a “nonsense” plan to lump Arbroath in with Dundee and make Lunan Bay voters share an MP with Glenshee in a Westminster constituencies shake-up.

Radical plans for a scheme which would see Scotland lose two MPs by 2024 were revealed in October.

Angus is one of the areas facing the biggest boundary changes.

This would see the creation of an Angus and Strathmore seat stretching from Montrose in the east all the way to Spittal of Glenshee 50 miles west.

And the county’s largest town – Arbroath – would become part of Dundee East and Arbroath.

The UK Government has said the scheme aims to create “fair and equal representation” at Westminster.

It affects only Westminster boundaries and will not change Holyrood constituencies or council wards.

Public consultation is now under way.

But Angus councillors have already instructed their chief executive to tell the Boundaries Commission for Scotland the plans for the county should be dumped.

Scotland would lose two Westminster seats under the 2023 Review of UK Parliament constituencies, reducing the number of MPs from 59 to 57.

England would gain 10 MPs to 543.

Northern Irish numbers would stay the same, but Wales would lose eight MPs.

The current Angus constituency electorate is 63,328.

New parameters give an objective of the Angus seat having between 69,724 and 77,062 voters.

A sub-group of the councils policy and resources committee considered how Angus Council should respond.

Montrose SNP councillor Bill Duff said keeping the vast majority of the council wards in one Angus constituency would give a constituency of around 76,000.

“The only ward that wouldn’t be part of it would be Monifieth, which is the status quo anyway.”

Monifieth is part of the current Dundee East constituency at Westminster.

And he said travel for an MP across the new Angus and Strathmore seat would be a headache.

Mr Duff added: “There is no good east/west road between Montrose and the Spittal of Glenshee.”

“It’s not our job to sort out Dundee and Perthshire,” he said.

“One of the issues is that Dundee doesn’t have enough population to justify having two MPs.

“But you could bring in villages with a DD postcode like Newport and Tayport.

“And they are only three miles away from Dundee, which is more sensible than including Lunan Bay.

Angus SNP group leader Beth Whiteside said: “It looks like the boundary commission have looked at the cities first and just tried to fit the rural areas round about.

“To lose the biggest town in Angus would be ridiculous.

“And to incorporate parts of Perthshire is just nonsense.”

Kirriemuir and Dean Conservative Angus Macmillan Douglas said: “Angus has been chopped around by parliamentary boundaries too much already.

“We see ourselves as a county and that’s important from a parliamentary point of view.

“My preference is to challenge them over why they have done it in the way they have.”

The council will submit its response by a December 8 deadline.

The Boundary Commission for Scotland has until July 1 2023 to put its recommendations to Westminster.

Any changes have to be approved by Parliament.

But the commission hopes changes will be in place by 2024 – when the next general election is expected.

MAPPING OUT POLITICS: The current constituency boundaries and the proposed changes which, if approved, could come into effect by 2024.