UK Government plans to redraw constituency map ‘make a mockery’ of promises made after independence referendum, SNP MP says

UK Government plans to redraw the constituency map “make a mockery” of promises made after the 2014 independence referendum, an SNP MP has claimed.

Boris Johnson is set to enjoy a ten-seat advantage at the next election with a redrawn constituency map boosting the Tories and taking up to two seats out of Scotland.

The Prime Minister is also set to lift the national campaign spending cap from £19.5 million to about £33 million in time for the next election.SNP David Linden claimed the plans were unfair on Scotland, and an attempt to silence Scottish voices.

He said: “Although this Bill undoes the 2011 legislation which would have reduced the number of constituencies in the House of Commons from 650 to 600 – which the SNP welcomes - it makes a mockery of the promises made after the 2014 independence referendum.

“Based on the proposed electoral quotas, Scotland will lose two or three seats to the advantage of England, which is wholly unfair.

"It should have been a priority to the members of both Houses at Westminster to protect Scotland’s 59 seats in this Parliament – to protect our ability to represent our constituencies and not to diminish Scotland’s voice – but it was not and never will be.

“Whilst my SNP colleagues and I continue to work towards the day in which Scotland will no longer be governed by Westminster, I will continue to fight for Scotland to be fairly represented in this Chamber.

"But it becomes clearer by the day that Scotland will never be seen as an equal in this so-called ‘Union of Equals’ and the only way to protect the people of Scotland and its interests is to become an independent country.”

Although parliament has agreed to stick with 650 MPs, there is now a move to make each constituency contain 73,000 voters, with a margin of five per cent each way.

Any final map will not be finished until 2023, and will be drawn from data published by the Office for National Statistics next month.

Tory peer and psephologist Lord Hayward told The Times it was already clear where changes would be made.

Scotland would join lose up to two constituencies, and Wales would be the biggest loser, with eight fewer MPs to reflect the creation of the Welsh Assembly.

Southeast England is likely to gain eight seats with the remaining uplift spread between the east of England, the southwest of England and London.

Lord Hayward added: "The net benefit to the Tories is likely to be between five and ten.”

Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine demanded any changes kept a balance between “fair votes and maintaining local and geographical ties.”

The Edinburgh West MP said: “We don’t want to get too restricted by percentage and forget the importance of communities and reflecting communities.

“We also don’t want constituencies too big, we already have some in Scotland that are the size of some small European countries.

“There has to be more of a balance and it has to be about more than numbers, it has to be about communities.

“We can’t let areas such as the highlands lose the community link just so they match up with the constituencies in Edinburgh or Glasgow.”

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