Moray MP Douglas Ross has commented on the Boundary Commission for Scotland proposals which would see the current Moray seat in the House of Commons being carved up, producing three new constituencies – Highland East and Elgin, Banff and Buchan and Gordon and Moray South.
Douglas has already said he would not fight the Moray seat again as he is now also a MSP, but he is strongly against the proposals which have been published.
Commenting Douglas said: “While I have already said that I will not be fighting the Moray seat at the next election, as the current MP I can’t support the proposals to carve-up the Moray constituency.
“It has been a huge honour to represent my home area as the local MP, but under these proposals, many historic local links would be lost and Moray’s identity diluted. The current seat works well as all the electors are within the Moray Council area and are represented by a single MP. Under these plans the same area would be represented by three MPs who would also be dealing with Highland or Aberdeenshire areas.
“The Boundary Commission need to go back to the drawing board and re-think these plans. I will be opposing them as I strongly believe the present Moray seat is best option for the area and local residents.
“I know the Boundary Commission have a difficult job, but I hope they will look again at their proposals and see that the correct decision is to maintain this long-standing seat.”