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Changes to Moray UK parliament seat boundaries will ‘sever’ Elgin communities

Moray Council. Image: Hazel Lawson/ DC Thomson.
Moray Council. Image: Hazel Lawson/ DC Thomson.

Proposed changes to the Moray UK parliamentary constituency will sever new communities in Elgin from the rest of the town.

A report on a plan to split the area in two for future Westminster elections will go before councillors this week.

The Boundary Commission for Scotland held a consultation to get rid of the Moray constituency.

It means some communities could merge with Aberdeenshire and others with Highland.

Three Moray Council wards – Keith and Cullen, Buckie and Fochabers Lhanbryde – could become part of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

‘Unbelievably stupid’

While Speyside Glenlivet, Heldon and Laich, Forres and both Elgin wards could form part of Nairn, Strathspey and Moray West.

The report said constituency boundaries proposed to the east of Elgin would “immediately sever” residents in new developments from the rest of the town.

Large house-building projects currently underway in the town will fall into next-door ward Fochabers Lhanbryde.

That will lead to new communities in Elgin ending up in a different parliamentary constituency to their nearest neighbours.

Former Forres councillor George Alexander. Image: DC Thomson

Both Conservative MP for the area Douglas Ross and the SNP’s Richard Lochhead who is MSP have criticised the proposals.

Also, Moray Council unanimously objected to the idea of carving up the constituency last year, when the plan was to split the area in three.

At the time then councillor for Forres George Alexander called the move “unbelievably stupid”.

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.

Changes will sever Elgin communities

The main focus of the review 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.

Moray Council has previously objected to getting rid of the Moray UK parliament constituency.

In her report, elections officer Alison Davidson said: “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 on Monday, the council has asked for an extension to allow members to debate proposals.

Their response will be submitted on Friday at the latest.

The boundary commission’s report will go to the speaker of the UK parliament by July 1, 2023.

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