Electoral boundaries - determination process: consultation analysis

Introduction

Background

Boundaries Scotland is the independent, non-political body which reviews Scottish Parliament and local authority electoral boundaries across Scotland. The review process is governed by rules set out in legislation, and includes public consultation as well as local inquiries if necessary. Members of Boundaries Scotland are politically independent, and are appointed by Scottish Ministers in a process overseen by the Ethical Standards Commissioner. The membership of Boundaries Scotland consists of a Chair, Deputy Chair, and up to four other Commissioners, and Members serve four-year terms in their posts, which can be renewed one time (so they can serve for a maximum of eight years).

The current process for approving proposed boundary changes in Scotland is set out in the Scotland Act 1998 and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, as amended by the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020. Following completion of its reviews, Boundaries Scotland submits a report with its final recommendations to Scottish Ministers, who are required to lay legislation in Parliament which gives effect to the final recommendations. Parliamentary committees then consider the recommendations and can take evidence from relevant groups or people on the changes. If the legislation is supported by the relevant parliamentary committee, it is subject to a vote in Parliament by all Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). This process is referred to as the ‘affirmative procedure’. If the vote passes, the proposals become law and the boundaries are changed.

In some other countries, and for Westminster constituencies and electoral boundaries for the Senedd in Wales, electoral boundary changes are not subject to a vote in parliament, but are approved automatically. This type of process is referred to as ‘automaticity’.

In early 2025, the Scottish Ministers established an Independent Review of the Process for Determining Electoral Boundaries in Scotland, to consider whether there is a better way to approve changes to electoral boundaries, and whether any other changes should be made as a result of any change to the approval process.

To inform the work of the Review, a consultation paper was published.^[1] This report provides an analysis of the responses to the consultation.

The consultation

The consultation was open on the Citizen Space online platform between May 15 2025 and August 7 2025. It sought views on:

• the approval and parliamentary process for boundary reviews;
• the consultation process for boundary reviews;
• boundary commission structure and resources; and
• any other elements of the approval or implementation process and/or related changes to rules or methodology around setting electoral boundaries.

Respondents to the consultation

The consultation received 33 responses, including 24 responses from individuals and 9 from organisations (including one from a political party) (see Table 1).

Where respondents have given permission, full responses are published at the consultation page: Process for determining electoral boundaries in Scotland - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space.

The following nine organisations responded to the consultation:

• Aberdeenshire Council
• Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA)
• Boundaries Scotland
• Craigton Community Council
• Electoral Management Board for Scotland (EMB)
• Glasgow City Council
• Menstrie Community
• Scottish Assessors’ Association – Electoral Registration Committee (SAA)
• Scottish Liberal Democrats

Methodology

The consultation consisted of eleven questions, including two closed questions (with yes/no or fixed response options), and nine open questions, inviting respondents to provide comments.

Responses to the consultation were accepted via the Citizen Space online platform and via email submissions. Those received via email were entered manually onto Citizen Space to create a complete database of responses.

All comments made by respondents were considered and the issues raised relevant to the consultation topic were grouped into themes, which are explored in the following analysis.

It should be noted that, as with all consultations, the views of those who have responded are not necessarily representative of the views of the wider population. Those who have a keen interest in a topic – and the capacity to respond – are more likely to participate in a consultation than those who do not. This self-selection means that the results reported cannot be generalised to the wider population. For this reason, the overall approach to consultation analysis is primarily qualitative in nature. The aim is to identify the main themes and the full range of views expressed in relation to each question, and to draw out areas of agreement and disagreement between different groups of respondents.

Alongside the public consultation, the Review included a wider programme of stakeholder engagement including a question and answer event with the public.