Council report questions the logic of cutting Moray in half
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Proposed changes to the Moray UK parliamentary constituency will "immediately sever" new developments to the east of Elgin from the rest of the town, it's being claimed.
The Boundary Commission for Scotland is currently thinking about cutting the Moray constituency in half, merging some communities with Aberdeenshire and others with Highland.
A report prepared by Moray Council regarding the boundary proposals will go before councillors this week for discussion.
In this report elections officer Alison Davidson says: "The design of the revised proposed UK parliamentary constituencies is beyond any historical constituency boundaries previously recognised.
"The splitting of the council area into two new constituencies and their resulting design does appear not to meet with many of the policy principles."
Although the boundary commission’s consultation closed yesterday the council has asked for an extension to allow members to debate proposals.
Their response will be submitted on Friday at the latest.
Three Moray Council wards – Keith and Cullen, Buckie and Fochabers Lhanbryde – could become part of an extended parliamentary constituency called Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.
Meanwhile the other five wards – Speyside Glenlivet, Heldon and Laich, Forres, Elgin North and Elgin South – could become part of the Nairn, Strathspey and Moray West constituency.
Both Douglas Ross and Richard Lochhead – Moray's Conservative MP and its SNP MSP – have criticised the proposals.
The boundary commission has been tasked with reviewing UK parliamentary constituencies.
Part of that is reducing the number of Scottish seats from 59 to 57.
The primary focus is to equalise the number of voters in each seat.
With the exception of protected island constituencies, the others are expected to have between 69,724 and 77,062 voters.
However the newly proposed Aberdeenshire North and Moray East seat has an electorate of 69,802, only 78 more than the lowest end of the scale.
The number in Nairn Strathspey and Moray West just fits in with the upper limit by 148 voters. It has an electorate of 76,914.
Moray has an electorate of 71,537.
The boundary commission’s report will go to the speaker of the UK parliament by July 1 next year.
