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From Stonehaven to Shetland – how constituency boundary changes for 2024 General Election impact the north and north-east

Check if, and how, your constituency has changed for the 2024 General Election after a boundary review across Scotland.

Scotland’s constituencies have seen a major overhaul ahead of the 2024 general election - has yours changed? Find out using our postcode constituency checker.
Image by Clarke Cooper/DC Thomson
Scotland’s constituencies have seen a major overhaul ahead of the 2024 general election - has yours changed? Find out using our postcode constituency checker. Image by Clarke Cooper/DC Thomson

Fresh constituency boundaries have been rolled out for the UK general election on July 4.

Scotland has lost two seats under the changes. The total number of MPs elected by Scots is now down to 57.

But many of those 57 remaining constituencies have been reshaped.

Across the UK, Boundary Commission reviews applied changes to 90% of constituencies.

While some MPs have already confirmed plans to stand again, many will be standing for constituencies that have changed both shape, name and profile.

Therefore to know how areas would have voted before the 2024 election, we must turn to notional results or estimates of vote shares under the new boundaries.

Has your constituency area or profile changed? Enter your postcode in our search tool below to find out how your area is estimated to have voted in 2019.

Professor David Denver of Lancaster University carried out the estimate calculations for Scotland.

Map of Scotland’s old and new constituency boundaries

The review removed Ross Skye and Lochaber and Glasgow Central from the total number of Scotland’s constituencies.

They were fragmented and split into freshly drawn constituencies.

While many were renamed, the boundary changes would have seen a different winner in two constituencies that still bear the same name as in 2019.

Liberal Democrat Jamie Stone was elected MP in Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross in 2019.

Liberal Democrats Jamie Stone speaks after being re-elected for the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross seat at Inverness Sports Centre in 2019. Picture by Sandy McCook

However, under the redrawn boundaries, it is estimated the SNP candidate would have been the winner instead.

Fife North East would have also been taken by the SNP rather than the Liberal Democrats, according to the estimated results.

But there are more areas where voters may find that a different party would have won under the 2024 boundaries.

For example, the SNP won in Gordon in 2019 but most of it now falls under Gordon and Buchan.

The newly drawn constituency’s notional vote share would put the seat in the hands of the Conservatives.

This is due to it being merged with parts of Banff and Buchan.

The map below shows how the boundary changes impact the 2019 vote.

However, the total number of seats won for each party would only change for the Liberal Democrats under the estimated 2019 results.

The same results under the new boundaries would bring them down to two seats from four.

How are constituency boundaries reviewed?

Constituencies are mainly determined on a population basis.

Each constituency must have no less than 69,724 electors but also no more than 77,062.

However, there are some exceptions to constituency boundary changes in Scotland. Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland are protected and therefore not subjected to review.

They are instead defined by their geography.

The Boundary Commission for Scotland is responsible for making periodical reviews that reflect population changes.

The body bases its parliamentary electorate figures on the electoral registers broken down by ward, council area and postcode.

If the constituency electorate is outside of the statutory thresholds, the Boundary Commission studies individual postcodes to refine boundaries.

The body also has geographical restraints. No constituency they draw can be larger than 13,000 square kilometres.

But it can have less than 69,724 electors if the area is larger than 12,000 sq km.

How constituencies were formed

Each new seat consists of a combination of parts of old ones.

Only 11 were entirely unchanged in Scotland, including the two protected island seats.

The new boundaries sees old constituencies fragmented and redrawn into new seats.

While Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine is unchanged, fragments of other seats have formed Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.

The latter is made up of 78.8% of Banff and Buchan and 26.0% of Moray.

The remainder of Banff and Buchan seat now forms Gordon and Buchan.

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