Edinburgh 'may lose two of its MPs when boundaries redrawn'

SCOTLAND'S capital could lose two of its five Westminster seats as a result of the coalition government's plans to redraw the constituency boundaries in Britain, new research suggests.

The proposal to reduce UK constituencies by 50 to 600 in 2015 and even out their size to about 75,000 voters per seat is set to hit cities across the UK.

As well as Edinburgh losing seats, the Labour Party research suggests that Dundee, Aberdeen and Glasgow may lose some seats and see others extended beyond the cities' boundaries.

It is expected that Scotland could lose seven or eight of its 59 seats as a result of the changes.

Critics have complained that the new boundaries will be based on the 2010 electoral roll, which will contain a low number of voters because it was compiled in a non-election year.

In Edinburgh there were an estimated 385,000 adults in the city at the time of the last election and an estimated 321,000 registered to vote.

It is understood that 3.5 million people in the UK are missing from the electoral register.

Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray argued that if the adult population was taken into account Scotland's capital would keep its five seats, but if the registered electors only are taken into account it could be reduced to four or three.

There is a possibility that parts of Edinburgh will be put into East Lothian or even counted along with Dunfermline because the Boundaries Commission will no longer have to take into account local authority areas and geographical features such as major rivers or historical links as it has done before.

The only criteria, apart from Orkney and Shetland and the Western Isles constituencies which are to be protected, will be equalisation of constituencies with a plus or minus 5 per cent variation on 75,000.

Mr Murray said: "Edinburgh and other cities will lose their voice. This is a classic case of gerrymandering. Thousands of people, mainly the poor and young who typically are the ones who don't register, will be ignored."

Brian Brown, the administrative officer at Edinburgh's Electoral Registration Office, said the city's transient foreign and student population distorted the figures. However, he admitted more than half the number missing from the register were people who "simply do not want to engage with the authorities".

"We run advertising campaigns and we go to people's addresses to try to get them to register, but there is only so much you can do," he said.

He also questioned the decision to choose 2010 as the point to decide the boundaries. "There is likely to be lower registration because we are not in a general election year," he said.

But a government spokeswoman said that 2010 had to be the year so that the boundaries could be completed in time for the 2015 election.