Your World of Legal Intelligence
 United Kingdom | +44 (0) 20 7284 8080

Anger as East Lothian towns set to merge with Edinburgh in Holyrood boundary shake-up

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date24 April 2024
AuthorMarie Sharp
Publication titleEdinburghLive (Scotland)
Boundaries Scotland revealed revised proposals to create an additional seat for future Scottish Parliament elections last week, which would see the East Lothian towns of Musselburgh, Tranent and neighbouring village Elphinstone merged with part of the east of Edinburgh

And they scrapped plans to leave the remainder of the county seat called East Lothian, instead renaming it Lothian Eastern.

A meeting of East Lothian Councillors this week condemned the proposals with one Tranent councillor accusing the boundary commission of 'throwing their toys out of the pram' after they were forced back to the drawing board.

Colin McGinn told the meeting: "Tranent and Elphinstone are an integral part of East Lothian and they should remain together as part of an East Lothian constituency, of that I have no doubt."

Original proposals from Boundaries Scotland, which is the name for the Boundaries Commission for Scotland, had been to add Prestonpans into the current Midlothian North and Musselburgh constituency and leave the remainder of the county seat as East Lothian.

However, following a public hearing in December that plan was scrapped.

Councillor Fiona Dugdale brought a motion to council asking the leader to write to the commission objecting to the plans to merge Musselburgh and Tranent and Elphinstone into a new seat and rename East Lothian.

She said: "From what I have seen and heard people are both shocked and disappointed, as am I. I believe the redrawing of constituencies to meet the numbers quota must take heed of the history and ties and the sense of belonging within our communities."

Councillor Lachlan Bruce told the meeting: "Something I agree on is the name Lothian Eastern is just a bit dumb, to be honest.

"It seems to make us just a part of the Lothians rather than a place with our own identity and our own communities. It is also...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT