SCOTTISH Westminster constituencies are set for a shake-up ahead of the next General Election - with two seats set to be axed as the sweeping changes are brought in.
On Wednesday, the Boundary Commission for Scotland’s final report was lodged with the House of Commons, with the UK Government given a four-month window to sign off on the plans.
The number of overall seats will reduced from 59 to 57 and only eight of the total seats remain unchanged.
Below, The National has gone through the Boundary Commission’s maps so you can see what changes will be made to your local area.
Scotland constituencies - existing vs planned
The Boundary Commission review will make a number of changes to the geography of many Scottish seats.
The image below shows the existing make-up of constituency seats for Westminster elections, with 59 overall.
Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland are protected under legislation so will not see any changes at all.
The proposed changes...
As you can see from the image above, the final recommendations will reduce the number of seats to 57.
Other areas see small geographical changes, some will see their names change, and some will see both changed when the recommendations are brought in.
North of Scotland
Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Highland and Moray Council areas, currently have 10 seats but will be reduced to nine.
The largest constituency area in all of Scotland following the changes will be Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross at 11,798 square kilometres.
As you can see from the image above, a number of constituencies now encompass more than one council area.
Moray, Douglas Ross's constituency, will be cut in two, with the Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch seat divided across two surrounding constituencies, reducing the total number to nine.
And, in Aberdeen City, the three existing constituency seats will be reduced to two.
Gordon, which covered parts of Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, will be taken into Gordan and Buchan.
Central Belt
The council grouping of Glasgow City, Inverclyde, and Renfrewshire, will also lose one seat from the current 10.
Glasgow City had seven constituencies, but following the review this will be reduced to six.
Glasgow Central has been removed and a number of geographical changes made to the other seats.
Glasgow South East will be renamed Glasgow East, with the other seats retaining their original names.
On the east coast, the number of constituencies remains the same at seven, but with the Edinburgh East seat now including parts of East Lothian.
Midlothian remains unchanged, while the other seats will see slight geographical changes.
Edinburgh East will be renamed Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, while East Lothian and Lammermuirs becomes Lothian East.
East Coast
The changes proposed on the east coast grouping were evidently much more controversial, as the Boundaries Commission received 236 responses to its consultation on the changes in 2022.
Dave Doogan, the SNP MP for Angus, previously issued a furious response to the commission’s proposed changes to his area – which would have effectively seen it erased from the political map.
However, it has now been included as the seat Angus and Perthside Glens, straddling the council areas of both Angus and Perth and Kinross. A series of other changes were made to the remaining seats.
Only four constituency names were kept from the commission's revised proposals - Bathgate and Linlithgow, Falkirk, Livingston, and North East Fife.
South and central
There were initially 12 seats in the council grouping covering the South of Scotland, made up of large swathes of the central belt outside of the two biggest cities.
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk will remain unchanged after a number of responses to earlier proposals.
Four constituencies will see name changes - Airdrie and Shotts, Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch, Mid Dunbartonshire, and Motherwell, and Wishaw and Carluke.
South West Scotland
The Ayrshire and Arran council area grouping retains its four seats in the Boundary Commission review.
It will also retain all of its original names and areas because all four constituencies "were within the electorate quota" for the 2023 review.
East Renfrewshire
The entire East Renfrewshire council area will remain as one seat.
"In deciding upon our initial proposals for East Renfrewshire Council area we agreed to retain the existing constituency, it followed the East Renfrewshire Council area boundary and was within the electorate quota for the 2023 Review," the commission said in its final report.
What do you think of the final proposals for Westminster boundary changes? Will it affect your local area?
Let us know in the comments below.
