Moray to be carved into two constituencies by the Boundary Commission in latest proposals
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
RECENT proposals from the Boundary Commission could see Moray split into two new constituencies for the next General Election.
The latest plans would see the creation of two new separate seats known as Aberdeenshire North and Moray East and Nairn, Strathspey and Moray West.
The revised proposals follow on from plans published last year which could have seen Moray split into three new constituencies if they had been approved.
Those plans were strongly opposed by both Douglas Ross and Richard Lochhead and both have once again reaffirmed their opposition to any change to the constituency's boundaries following the revised plan's publication today.
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: "These latest proposals from the Boundary Commission are still completely wrong for Moray.
"They would carve up the Moray seat into two different constituencies and completely dilute Moray’s identity.
Ross added: "It works well for co-ordinating efforts with a single local authority. These proposals would mean authorities in Moray would be linking up with Aberdeenshire and Highland and I have real concern about what that would ultimately mean for the delivery of public services in Moray.
“These changes simply do not address the concerns raised by myself and others to previous proposals.
"The Boundary Commission appear hellbent on ensuring that Moray will no longer be a single seat and that would represent a significant loss of local historic links."
Moray MSP Richard Lochhead added: "Although initial plans to split Moray into three different constituencies have been reviewed, people in Moray will remain unsatisfied by proposals that would see our communities stuck onto the end of seats in the Highlands and Aberdeenshire.
“The Moray Westminster constituency not only mirrors the local authority area, but already has a suitable number of electors, and it reflects what people here consider to be their local community. Moray has also been a longstanding constituency at Westminster.
“I cannot see how it would benefit people in Moray to change the boundaries in this way – in fact I believe it would be a disservice to the our communities.”
The revised proposals also reduce the number of MPs in Scotland from 59 down to 57 while Wales would lose eight and England would gain ten.
The number of MPs is Northern Ireland would remain unchanged.
The Boundary Commission of Scotland will now seek views on the revised proposals after which they will be finalised and submitted to the Speaker of the House of Commons by July 1 next year.
Today marks the start of the four week public consultation on the revised proposal.
More information can be found here.
