Councillors oppose Angus constituency proposals

Councillors unanimously opposed the proposed changes.

Members of the policy and resources committee met online Monday morning to discuss the voting areas redrawn by the Scottish Boundaries Commission.

The controversial shake-up is part of a 2023 review of UK Parliament constituencies which would see Scotland’s tally of Westminster MPs drop by two to 57.

One proposal is to replace reference to Angus with a consitutuency name of ‘North Tayside". This was met with collective opposition among committee members.

Councillor David Fairweather said: “Effectively the Angus name is disappearing…(in proposed changes). I’m not happy that’s going to be the case and we should certainly make a response back regarding that.”

Councillor Bill Duff commented: “Not only have they not listened to our objections, they’ve made them worse, they’ve exacerbated the issue, which is pretty disappointing.”

Committee convener, Beth Whiteside said: “There’s really nothing good to say about the proposals, to be perfectly honest. We all have to reiterate how strongly we feel about this.”

The committee agreed to include such views in a response to the commission. The consultation period ends on December 5 and a final proposal is expected in due course. The Boundary Commission for Scotland aims to have changes in place by 2024 – in time for the next general election.