INVERCLYDE’S Westminster parliamentary boundaries will be extended under surprising proposals unveiled yesterday.

Under new plans from the Boundary Commission the new constituency would be called Inverclyde and Largs and have an electorate of 73,965.

The constituency is currently the same as the Inverclyde local authority boundary, but the commission is suggesting it should also take in part of the existing North Ayrshire and Arran seat by adding on Skelmorlie, Largs, Cumbrae, Fairlie and West Kilbride.

Publication of the proposals marks the start of a three-month public consultation.

It follows a UK Parliament decision to reduce the number of constituencies from 650 to 600.

In Scotland this means that 59 constituencies will be reduced to 53.
Inverclyde’s current MP Ronnie Cowan said the changes proposed locally were ‘substantial’.

He added: “The proposed Inverclyde and Largs constituency will cover a large geographical area and also take in two local authorities – Inverclyde Council and North Ayrshire Council.

“I will now take some time to study the boundary changes and see what this means for my constituents.

“Ultimately, they are the priority and it’s essential that potential boundary changes do not make it more difficult for constituents to access the services of their local member of parliament.”

Two constituencies, Western Isles and Orkney and Shetland, will not be subject to change, but each of the remaining 51 would have electorates of between 71,031 and 78,507.

Lord Matthews, Deputy Chair of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, said each mainland constituency must have broadly the same number of electors.

He said: “We have set out proposals which do that and are, we believe, a good implementation of the rules set by parliament.

“We now want to hear the views of the public. We will be running a number of public events across the country in the coming weeks and hope that voters will make their views heard.”

But the public meeting for Inverclyde, East Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and South Ayrshire will be in Ayr Town Hall on December 1.

The consultation will run until January 11. 

Consultation responses will be published in spring 2017 and any revised proposals will be consulted on in autumn 2017.

The commission will report back in September 2018, so that the new constituencies can be considered for approval by parliament and be available for the general election expected in 2020.

Members of the public can submit views at www.bcs2018.org.uk