MORE than 70 years of the East Lothian name at Westminster is set to disappear at the next General Election.
And the vast majority of the county will fall under a new UK Parliament constituency called Lothian East, while the western half of Musselburgh - including the majority of the town centre - will join a new Edinburgh East and Musselburgh constituency.
The county’s current MP has called the Lothian East name switch “bureaucratic nonsense” and says it “alienates folk from where they live and vote”.
While East Lothian Council has confirmed that, like everyone else, it was not given a chance to comment on the merits, or otherwise, of the new Lothian East name.
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The Boundary Commission for Scotland yesterday published its final recommendations for Westminster constituencies in Scotland.
Scotland has been allocated 57 constituencies – two fewer than present – and, to ensure that MP representation is fairly balanced across the UK, each seat must contain between 69,724 and 77,062 voters.
Significant population growth in East Lothian has led to the county’s electorate being one of the highest in Scotland. In March 2020, it stood at 82,479.
In 2021, the Boundary Commission for Scotland proposed that the western part of Musselburgh, the county’s largest town, would leave the East Lothian Westminster seat and join an Edinburgh East constituency.
And the commission suggested that the amended East Lothian seat be re-named East Lothian Coast “as it no longer followed the East Lothian Council area boundary”.
Following consultation, the commission ruled last year that the proposed Edinburgh East constituency include a larger part of Musselburgh than the initial proposals “in order to better reflect local ties there”.
This includes much of Musselburgh town centre, and Inveresk, and totals about 11,200 voters.
It also proposed re-naming the remaining East Lothian UK Parliament constituency East Lothian and Lammermuirs, instead of East Lothian Coastal, “to reflect the extensive geography of the constituency and that it no longer followed the East Lothian Council area boundary”.
READ MORE: Larger part of Musselburgh to be moved in Boundary Commission review
Last November, the commission published revised proposals and acknowledged that “some opposition remained” to adding parts of Musselburgh to an Edinburgh East constituency.
In its final recommendations announced yesterday, the commission decided to include Musselburgh in a constituency name by renaming Edinburgh East as Edinburgh East and Musselburgh.
And due to “opposition” from the public consultation, the suggested name of East Lothian and Lammermuirs for the remaining East Lothian seat was discarded and the name ‘Lothian East’ put forward.
Lord Matthews, deputy chair of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, said: “The commission would like to thank all those who participated in our 2023 Review by responding to our consultations and providing feedback to enable us to develop our final recommendations.
“We listened carefully to comments made on our proposals during the 2023 Review and made a number of changes to boundaries and to constituency names.
“We believe our final recommendations meet the requirements of the legislation governing the review and within those constraints fairly reflect the views expressed to us during our consultations.”
Within four months, the UK Government is required to submit an Order to the Privy Council to sign off on the changes suggested by all four boundary commissions from nations across the UK.
Westminster cannot make any changes to the recommendations unless asked to do so by the relevant commission, and once the order has been signed off, the changes will take effect ahead of the next General Election.
Therefore, it is almost certain the East Lothian name will be dropped from the list of UK Parliament constituencies and the western part of Musselburgh joins a new Edinburgh East and Musselburgh seat.
Communities such as Whitecraig and Wallyford would still remain in the East Lothian ‘Lothian East’ seat.
Since 1983, there has been an East Lothian constituency at Westminster, initially serving the old East Lothian District Council area and, in the last two decades, covering the whole East Lothian Council area.
From 1950 to 1983, the constituency was called Berwick and East Lothian as it also included large parts of Berwickshire.
Kenny MacAskill, East Lothian’s MP, described the pending switch to the Lothian East name, despite the vast majority of East Lothian remaining in the constituency, as “bureaucratic nonsense”.
“Of course, not every town and village can be in the [constituency] name,” he told the Courier.
“And given population growth and the requirement to cap voter numbers, not all the county can be in the seat.
“However, the name isn’t just an historical artefact but a living entity where people live and with which they identify.
“This is bureaucratic nonsense that alienates folk from where they live and vote.
“It must be [named] East Lothian even if not all the county is in the constituency.”
An East Lothian Council spokesperson added: "We objected to the proposed name of East Lothian Coastal and suggested we retain the current name of East Lothian.
"But this new name has only appeared in the final report and we did not have an opportunity to offer a view on it."
In a separate process, East Lothian voters also face significant changes in terms of the Scottish Parliament constituency boundaries.
The Boundary Commission for Scotland wants to move people living in Prestonpans and parts of east Edinburgh into a new Midlothian North and Musselburgh constituency to try to reduce the number of voters in the current East Lothian Holyrood seat.
A public inquiry is expected to be held after councillors described the move as "nonsensical".
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