Plansfor polling districts set to be finalised

Plans for the new polling districts for next year’s Holyrood elections are being finalised ahead of publication next month.

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West Lothian will have three MSP’s after next May’s elections as a new constituency has been created in the Bathgate area.

Labour veteran, Linlithgow’s Tom Conn, branded the redraw "a mopping up exercise" after the town was tied to Falkirk in a new constituency.

The new constituencies have stirred up controversy for the last two years.

Initially the Boundaries Commission suggested moving Fauldhouse and Whitburn into a new constituency based around Airdrie 14 miles west in Lanarkshire.

The changes were proposed to ensure that new constituencies remained roughly equal with around 75,000 voters.

West Lothian Council formally objected to this at an inquiry and the plan was dropped after this and other local objections.

The council criticised a new plan to push Linlithgow into a new constituency with Falkirk.