LISTEN: Highland MP faces losing job over map changes

UK Parliament plans to cut 50 seats for Westminster politicians

Published 20th Oct 2016

Plans to cut down the number of Westminster politicans would force a Highland MP into unemployment.

The number of seats in the UK Parliament's House of Commons could fall from 650 down to 600.

But, how would that impact the North?

LISTEN: Our reporter John Rose has been investigating, and newsreader Joe Odber brings you his report...

The Boundary Commission is proposing the Highlands' three-constituencies ('Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey', 'Ross, Skye and Lochaber', and 'Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross') be replaced with just two voting areas - one called 'Inverness and Skye', and the other called 'Highland North'.

That means a potential battle between the three existing MPs who may be one seat short at the next General Election, although it is unclear whether they would all stand, given they are all members of the same party - the SNP - which can only put forward one candidate per constituency.

And subject to a public consultation Nairn could become represented by the current MP for Moray, under the new geography shake-up.

The Highland capital's MP Drew Hendry told MFR News: "That these plans, to reduce Scotland’s ability to hold Westminster to account, are being made at the same time as the unelected and unaccountable House of Lords stands at a whopping 800 members and is being bolstered with even more Tory donors and supporters, is an utter disgrace.

"The proposals that affect people living here show an incredible lack of care and understanding of the geography of the Highlands. My SNP colleagues and I, will be fighting these outrageous proposals that would mean our constituency would be the size of Cyprus.

"It is ridiculous to even suggest that this would be manageable. This is just another example of a Tory Government that doesn’t serve the interests of Scotland and certainly does not understand the needs of people living in the Highlands."