INVERCLYDE’S constituency will be stretched significantly if controversial proposals by the Boundary Commission go ahead.

Our MP would have to represent almost 20,000 more constituents if the boundary is extended almost into Clydebank.

It’s difficult to see how that makes sense at a time of growing austerity and a consequent increasing number of calls to MPs, for example about the way universal credit has been introduced.

Hopefully this particular crisis should be resolved by the time of the next general election in 2022, but don’t bet on it.

It is disgraceful that the Westminster Government is making people wait at least six weeks for a payment when they are moved on to universal credit, pushing them into debt from which they might never recover.

Former Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith, made soothing comments about it when he was interviewed on TV, giving the misleading impression that this was just the proverbial storm in a tea cup.

As a former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, he should have known better.

Meanwhile, many believe his party’s best chance of survival would be to replace Prime Minister Theresa May with Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson MSP.

For that to happen, however, she would need to be parachuted into a safe Westminster constituency.

And that might be problematic, for the Commission’s plans will remove the seats of some high profile Tory MPs who will be fighting like ferrets in a sack for a cushy berth!