The First periodic review of Scottish Parliament boundaries was carried out by the Boundary Commission for Scotland. It was announced on 3 July 2007 that the review was taking place.[1] Provisional proposals were published on 14 February 2008[2][3] and the final proposals were published on 26 May 2010. The new constituencies and regions were used for the first time at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election.
The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 requires the commission to review boundaries of all constituencies except Orkney and Shetland (which cover, respectively, the Orkney Islands council area and the Shetland Islands council area) so that the area covered by the reviewed constituencies will continue to be covered by a total of 71 constituencies.
The Orkney and Shetland constituencies were taken into account, however, in review of boundaries of the additional member regions.
Final recommendations followed public consultations and a series of local inquiries, and the terms of the 2004 act required final recommendations to be submitted in a report to the Secretary of State for Scotland.
A second review should have taken place within 12 years of the last; however, by the time of the 2021 Scottish Parliament election this had not taken place. A meeting of the Boundary Commission in 2017 indicated that an extension would be sought by the Scottish Government to have the constituencies reviewed by the time of the next proposed election in 2025 (now 2026).[4]
The second review commenced in September 2022 and is planned to be completed by May 2025 before the next scheduled election.[5]
Boundary changes
editFor the purposes of the review the Boundary Commission for Scotland must take into account the boundaries of the local government council areas. In order to do this some council areas were grouped together; the largest of these groupings of provisional proposals consisted of four of Scotland's 32 council areas, and the smallest only containing one. Constituencies created in 1999 were based on Scottish Westminster constituencies that were created in 1997 and were based on the boundaries of local government regions and districts and islands areas that existed at that time but have since been abolished and replaced with the council areas.
Following the provisional proposal stages the Commission published their Final Recommendations. All the review processes were completed with the outlined constituencies below.
Constituencies
editCouncil area or areas | Map of Council areas | Existing constituency or constituencies | Map of existing | Proposed constituency or constituencies | Map of proposed |
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Aberdeen City, and |
Aberdeen Central (part of Aberdeen City council area), Aberdeen South (part of Aberdeen City council area), |
Aberdeen Central (part of Aberdeen City council area), Aberdeen Donside (part of Aberdeen City council area), |
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Argyll and Bute, and |
Argyll and Bute (part of Argyll and Bute council area), Dumbarton (part of Argyll and Bute and part of West Dunbartonshire council areas), |
Argyll and Bute (part of Argyll and Bute council area), Dumbarton (part of Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire council areas), |
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Clackmannanshire, and Stirling |
Stirling (part of Stirling council area), and part of Ochil (Clackmannanshire and part of Stirling council areas) |
Clackmannanshire and Dunblane (Clackmannanshire council area and part of Stirling council area), and Stirling (part of Stirling council area) |
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Dumfries and Galloway | Dumfries, and Galloway and Upper Nithsdale |
Dumfriesshire, and Galloway and West Dumfries |
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Dundee City | Dundee East, Dundee West, and |
Dundee City East, and Dundee City West |
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East Ayrshire, and |
Ayr (part of South Ayrshire council area), Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (part of East Ayrshire and part of South Ayrshire council areas), |
Ayr (part of South Ayrshire council area), Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (part of South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire council areas), Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley (part of East Ayrshire council area), |
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East Lothian, and |
East Lothian (part of East Lothian council area), Midlothian (part of Midlothian council area), |
East Lothian (part of East Lothian council area), Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire (part of East Lothian and part of Midlothian council areas), |
| | ||
East Renfrewshire, and |
Eastwood (East Renfrewshire council area) Greenock and Inverclyde Paisley North Paisley South West Renfrewshire |
Eastwood (parts of East Renfrewshire council area) Greenock and Inverclyde (part of Inverclyde council area) |
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Edinburgh, City of | Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh North and Leith, |
Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Eastern, |
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Falkirk | Falkirk East, and |
Falkirk East, and |
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Fife | Central Fife, Dunfermline East, |
Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline, |
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Glasgow City | Glasgow Anniesland, Glasgow Baillieston, |
Glasgow Anniesland, Glasgow Cathcart, |
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Highland | Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, and |
Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, |
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Na h-Eileanan Siar | Western Isles | Na h-Eileanan an Iar | |||
Perth and Kinross | Perth, part of Angus, |
Perthshire North, and |
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North Ayrshire | Cunninghame North, and |
Cunninghame North, and |
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North Lanarkshire, and |
Motherwell and Wishaw Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge and Chryston Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Hamilton North and Bellshill Clydesdale East Kilbride Glasgow Rutherglen(part of South Lanarkshire council area and part of Glasgow City council area) Hamilton South |
Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge and Chryston, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, East Kilbride, Falkirk East, Falkirk West, Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, Motherwell and Wishaw, and Uddingston and Bellshill |
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West Lothian | Livingston, |
Almond Valley |
Electoral regions
editThe Boundary Commission have also recommended changes to the electoral regions used to elect "list" members of the Scottish Parliament. The recommendations[6] can be summarised below;
References
edit- ^ "Review of Constituencies at the Scottish Parliament" (PDF) (Press release). Boundary Commission for Scotland. 3 July 2007. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
- ^ "Provisional proposals for constituencies for the Scottish Parliament" (PDF) (Press release). Scottish Office, Boundary Commission for Scotland. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
- ^ "New electoral boundaries unveiled". BBC News. 14 February 2008.
- ^ Scottish Parliament: timing of 2nd Review of Parliament Boundaries, Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland, November 2017
- ^ "Second Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries | Scottish Boundary Commission". boundaries.scot. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ "First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries. Public Consultation" (PDF). Boundary Commission for Scotland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.