Boundaries Scotland withdraw plans to change Falkirk area boundaries for Scottish Parliament elections

Falkirk East and Falkirk West will keep their existing constituency boundaries and their names, Boundaries Scotland announced today (Thursday).

The independent organisation is responsible for changing electoral boundaries to keep the number of people eligible to vote in each Holyrood constituency roughly equal, although exceptions are made for some rural areas.

In the second stage of the review, Falkirk Council officially objected to a proposal that would have boosted numbers in the Cumbernauld & Kilsyth constituency by incorporating Denny and Banknock.

At the other side of the council area, Linlithgow would have been added to a Falkirk constituency to decrease electoral numbers in West Lothian.

But Falkirk Council strongly objected to the plans, which would also have seen the constituency names change to Falkirk North and Linlithgow & Falkirk South.

The council also said that breaking the council area into three different Scottish Parliament constituencies would be confusing for voters and difficult to administer.

As these are also local authority wards, the council said this could create a significant risk of “voter confusion”, especially given recent changes to Westminster constituencies.

A Local Inquiry was held on August 22 at Falkirk Stadium and following feedback and submissions, it was agreed that the strong, natural ties of the communities in Denny, Banknock, Haggs and Longcroft should not be broken.

Boundaries Scotland also accepted Falkirk Council’s arguments that the council area being split across three different constituencies would be difficult to manage.

The commission thanked members of the public for their submissions and the information that helped inform their final decision.

Professor Ailsa Henderson, chair of Boundaries Scotland said: “We would like to thank everyone who made submissions to the consultation on revised proposals and thank those who participated in the Falkirk local inquiry.

“This engagement is a vital part of the review process. It helps to ensure that electoral representation is fair across Scotland, but also that the boundaries reflect natural communities as best as possible within the rules that govern our work.”

Professor Henderson stressed that the review is of Scottish constituency and regional boundaries only and does not have any effect on other boundaries, such as health boards or council areas, and will have no effect on how local services are accessed.

Following the announcement, Falkirk Council chief executive Kenneth Lawrie said: ““Following the local enquiry, we are pleased to see that Boundary Scotland has decided not to change the constituencies of Falkirk East and Falkirk West.”

The review is now entering its third and final phase and while there are further proposals that may see changes made elsewhere in Scotland, these will not affect either Falkirk constituency.

It is expected to conclude by May 2025 with any changes put in place for the Scottish Parliament election that will take place in May 2026.

Boundaries Scotland has also published provisional proposals for how the Scottish Parliament’s regional constituencies will look in the future, which can be found on its website.