HELENSBURGH’S MP has hit out at plans for a major increase in the size of the Argyll and Bute constituency at Westminster.

Final recommendations to enlarge the existing seat were published by the Boundary Commission this week after initial proposals were announced last year.

And all that has changed in the new plans is the name – with the new constituency, which has been enlarged to the north and now covers 9,916 square kilometres, now to be known Argyll, Bute and South West Highlands.

Mr O’Hara said: “This appears to be nothing more than a crude numbers game for the Boundary Commission.

"In their desire to try and equalise the size of each UK constituency by population, they seem to have taken no notice of the history, geography or topography of this part of Scotland.

"And I am very disappointed in this proposal. The people of Argyll, Bute and the south west Highlands deserve better than this.

“The three largest constituencies (Highland North, Argyll Bute and South Highland and Highland Central) would cover a landmass of 33,282 square kilometres – equivalent to 42.5 per cent of the whole of Scotland. This is equivalent to a landmass larger than Belgium.

“But there are no plans to reduce the number of UK Government ministers, meaning elected members will have even less ability to hold them to account.

“For an area almost half of the whole of Scotland to be represented by only three MPs is a democratic outrage, especially at a time when the unelected chamber of the House of Lords continues to increase – currently numbering around 800.

“For the mainland Highlands area, a geography one and a half times the size of Wales to be cut to just two constituencies is astonishing.

“South of the border, the largest proposed geographic constituency is Brecon, Radnor and Mongomery in Wales, a mere 3,624 square kilometres. That’s one third of the geography of the proposed boundary of Argyll, Bute and South West Highlands.

“The UK government is in chaos as we continue to weather the unwelcome storm of Brexit. There is no appetite for these proposals.

"If there is a genuine desire to reduce the cost of politics at UK level, the priority must be to abolish the unelected, undemocratic House of Lords, which has zero accountability to voters."