The Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland related the boundaries of new constituencies to those of Scottish local government council areas and to local government wards. Apart from a few minor adjustments, the council area boundaries dated from 1996 and the ward boundaries dated from 1999. Some council areas were grouped to form larger areas and, within these larger areas, some constituencies straddle council area boundaries.
The same council area and ward boundaries were in use when the new constituencies were first used in 2005, but ward boundaries have changed since then. New wards were introduced for the 2007 Scottish local government elections.
The Boundary Commission for Scotland submitted their final proposals in respect of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies (the 2018 review) in September 2018. Although the proposals were immediately laid before Parliament they were not brought forward by the Government for approval. Accordingly, they did not come into effect for the 2019 election which took place on 12 December 2019, and which was contested using the constituency boundaries in place since 2010.
Under the terms of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the Sixth Review was based on reducing the total number of MPs from 650 to 600 and a strict electoral parity requirement that the electorate of all constituencies should be within a range of 5% either side of the electoral quota.
On 24 March 2020, the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Chloe Smith, issued a written statement to Parliament setting out the Government's thinking with regard to parliamentary boundaries. Subsequently, the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 ("the Act") was passed into law on 14 December 2020. This formally removed the duty to implement the 2018 review and set out the framework for future boundary reviews. The Act provided that the number of constituencies should remain at the current level of 650, rather than being reduced to 600, while retaining the requirement that the electorate should be no more than +/- 5% from the electoral quota.
Process
The Act specified that the next review had to be completed no later than 1 July 2023 and the Boundary Commission formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, the number of constituencies allocated to Scotland decreased by 2, from 59 to 57. This includes the protected constituencies of Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland.
As part of public consultations for the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for Scotland released its initial proposals on 14 October 2021.[3] Following two periods of public consultation, revised proposals were published on 8 November 2022. Final recommendations were laid before Parliament on 28 June 2023 after they were published and then submitted a day earlier.[4][5]
Recommended seats
Under the final recommendations the following constituencies for Scotland would come into effect at the next general election:[4][6]
↑ Cameron defected to the Scottish Conservatives from the SNP on 12 October 2023.
↑ MacAskill defected to the Alba Party from the SNP on 27 March 2021.
↑ Hanvey defected to the Alba Party from the SNP on 27 March 2021.
↑ MacNeil was suspended from the SNP in July 2023 and expelled in August.
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