Moray Council officially objects to constituency breakup plan
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COUNCILLORS have unanimously struck out at plans to split Moray.
Moray Council’s depute chief executive submitted an opposition to proposed changes to the UK Parliament constituency of Moray after councillors gave her the nod.
The changes propose to split Moray between a newly formed Aberdeenshire North and Moray East and Nairn, Strathspey and Moray West.
In the letter, the Council said the plans do not meet the Boundary Commission for Scotland’s own principles when considering the number in the electorate and bears no resemblance to any historic or current constituencies.
Concerns have also been raised about administration of future elections and ward boundaries, including the isolation of new housing developments in Elgin.
Leader of Moray Council Councillor Kathleen Robertson said: “The council is unanimous in our opposition to the proposed boundary changes.
"We currently meet the electorate quota, whereas one of the proposed new boundaries would be at the upper limit of the threshold.
“We also don’t want to see the destabilisation of communities that disjointed Westminster representation could bring.
"We risk regressing in the ongoing work to unify our local towns, through a programme of economic development, should they be split in this way.
“By all accounts, you’d be hard pushed to find anyone in Moray supportive of these changes and my understanding is all submissions to the Boundary Commission for Scotland oppose this change for Moray.
"This should in effect be the end of these proposals.”
