The prospect of fewer Scottish MPs and larger constituencies taking in swathes of Scotland was raised last night after David Cameron said he wanted to have the same size seats across the UK and cut the number of MPs.
The prospect of fewer Scottish MPs and larger constituencies taking in swathes of Scotland was raised last night after David Cameron said he wanted to have the same size seats across the UK and cut the number of MPs.
The Conservative leader reheated a policy proposed by his predecessor Michael Howard, who in 2004 wanted to reduce the number of MPs from 659 by around 120 to save £20m. At the time, it was suggested that the number of Scottish MPs would be slashed to as few as 40.
At present, there are 59 Scottish MPs - that was reduced from 72 following the creation of the Scottish Parliament. The total number of MPs is 646.
Oliver Heald, then shadow Commons leader, explained that the Tory plan was to ensure each constituency had the same number of electors: 100,000. At present, English constituencies have around 70,000 voters while Scottish ones have, on average, around 65,000.
Last year, Mr Cameron said: "The one reform I would really like to make is I would like to see constituencies of an equal size right across the country. On the whole, Conservative seats are bigger than Labour seats, which is unfair. I would like to see a simple system: the same vote; the same value right across the country so that all constituencies are the same size. That would make a big difference."
Yesterday, he said that he wanted to cut the number of MPs by at least 10% - or 65, saying the Commons could do its job just as well with fewer politicians.
Pointing out how a future Tory government could legislate in its first term for an urgent boundary review, Mr Cameron said: "I believe in having seats that are the same size across the country."
However, this would throw up the possibility of huge Scottish seats, particularly if, as before, the Conservatives wanted every constituency to have 100,000 voters.
For example, if Na h- Eileanan an Iar with 21,576 voters joined Ross, Skye and Lochaber with 50,351, this would still fall well short of 100,000. So would combining, say, Orkney and Shetland with its 32,639 electors with the 46,629 of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
However, David Mundell, the shadow Scottish secretary, stressed that geographical considerations would still be taken into account by the Boundary Commission for Scotland under the Tory plan. "You can't have constituencies the size of European countries," he told The Herald. At present, the commission has discretion to take into account the geography of an area when drawing up boundaries.
Mr Mundell, the MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale - at 2000 square miles, one of the 10 largest constituencies in the UK - explained that while the aim was for parity, there would inevitably be exceptions. But he did not demur from the suggestion that there would be even fewer Scottish MPs and some larger Scottish constituencies under the Cameron blueprint.
"There may be a reduction in Scotland. I don't think it would be a straight 10% because we have already taken forward a lot of this work," he added.
If Mr Cameron's plans are ambitious, those of Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, appear even more so. He would like to cut the number of MPs by 150 to around 500. The move would be in parallel with introducing the primary LibDem policy of proportional representation for Westminster.
