Monday November 17th 2025
Ballot box
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Plans for the new polling districts for next year’s Holyrood elections are being finalised ahead of publication next month.
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. This has now been formalised despite new objections from the council.
The new Linlithgow constituency roughly reflects the boundaries of the former Westminster constituency up to the 2024 General Election.
The redraw will create two more polling districts in the Linlithgow ward.
Councillors argued throughout the process that constituencies should reflect the natural boundaries and historic connections between communities, rather than simply being “a numbers game”, and councillor Conn reiterated his criticism at this month’s Executive.
He told the meeting: “The guidelines which are laid down seem to be very variable and very flexible. At one time West Lothian was going to be part of Edinburgh and Fauldhouse was going to be in Lanarkshire.
“Now, as far as my ward is concerned, the town of Linlithgow is in a Falkirk constituency and the rural area is in a West Lothian constituency.
“This really highlights that the whole process needs to be reviewed and it shouldn’t just be on numbers. Perhaps the Scottish Parliament needs to review how this process is carried out.
“The guidelines should not be a mopping up exercise as part of other constituencies.”
The council’s Executive approved plans to rename polling districts for ballot papers ahead of maps being printed next month.
It is a technicality. Polling district names are a string of five letters/numbers, reflecting the Westminster constituency (first two in the string), Scottish Parliament constituency (third in the string), Local Government Ward (fourth in the string), and the Polling District identifier (fifth in the string). The identifiers appear on maps and ballot papers.
A review of polling places for the 7 May Holyrood election is now under way.
The three new Scottish Parliamentary constituencies covering West Lothian are Almond Valley, covering Livingston and rural areas to the south and east; Bathgate covering the council ward and town and rural areas to to south and west an, and Falkirk East and Linlithgow occupying the town and rural areas along a narrow northern strip.
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