Flinging round the boundaries in Scotland

Glasgow Anniesland might be a safe seat but three others in the area are set to go

Peers have picked up the debate about Scottish MPs in Westminster.

Earlier in the day Dominic Grieve, Conservative MP for Beaconsfield, had raised the matter during prime minister's questions in the Commons.

In the House of Lords Baroness Wilcox asked Lord Filkin from the Department of Constitutional Affairs what progress has been made on implementing the changes to electoral boundaries proposed in the Scotland Act of 1998.

The Scotland Act made provision for the establishment of an independent Scottish executive and also signalled an end to the anomaly of Scottish over-representation at Westminster.

Lord Filkin replied that "the Boundary Commission for Scotland is well underway on the process."

Traditionally there were more MPs per head in Scotland because of its scattered population density.

But the Boundary Commission's report of February 2002 proposed a cut of 13 seats, bringing Scottish constituencies into line with those in England, containing voting populations of about 69,000.

Labour would be hit the hardest by this reshuffle - with 56 of the current crop of 72 Westminster seats - but the Liberal Democrats would drop one of their 10 seats and the Conservatives would lose their only Scottish voice in the UK Parliament.

'No change'

The number of Scottish MPs sitting in the House of Commons has been brought into focus as the government passes legislation with ever decreasing majorities.

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The Conservative MP for Beckenham, Jacqui Lait, raised a point of order in the Commons on Monday about the provisions of the 1998 Scotland Act - to reduce Scottish MPs from 72 to 59.

She referred to Sunday newspaper reports that the government would not be implementing the changes before the next general election.

A Scotland Office spokesperson rejected claims the government were deliberately prevaricating, to assure support in the Commons.

The spokesperson said "there has been no change whatsoever" and believed there had been some confusion in the media.

She explained the law to permit the electoral boundary changes was taken onto the statute books with the Scotland Act in 1998.

And the matter now lies with the independent Boundaries Commission, who are carrying out a review of the details and is not due to report until December 2006.

You can watch Baroness Wilcox question the Scottish Office on BBC Parliament on Thursday 17 July from 0600 BST and in Lords Questions repeated at 2230 BST that evening.