Council Calls for 4th Scottish Parliamentary Boundary for Highland

Highland Councillors are calling on the Boundary Commission for Scotland to reconsider proposals for new Scottish Parliamentary boundaries in the Highlands so that the area is represented by four directly elected constituency MSPs instead of the current three.

The Commission is consulting on a proposal to establish three constituencies, called North Highland, West Highland and  East Highland.  North Highland would replace the existing constituency of Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross and have an electorate of 56,170. West Highland would replace Ross and Skye and Inverness West and have 55,900 electors.  East Highland would replace Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber and have 61,690 electors.

In objecting to these proposals, the Council believes that, given the vast size of the proposed constituencies, there should be four in Highland called Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross; Ross Skye and Strathglass; Inverness;  and Loch Ness, Lochaber, Badenoch and Nairn. Electorates range from 42,091 in Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross to 44,741 in Inverness.

If the Commission rejects this position, the Council believes it is possible to divide the Highland area into three alternative constituencies, namely North Highland and Wester Ross (55,718); Ross Skye Lochaber and Badenoch (61,162); and Inverness and Nairn (56,900).

The deadline for representations to the Boundary Commission is 14 March. The report that went to committee can be read here (PDF)