David Maddox: Holyrood constituency boundary consultation put back

Just had an e-mail passed on to me which was sent to all the political parties yesterday. Basically, the Boundary Commission's final on consultation on its proposals for the Holyrood constituencies has been put back after a request by the SNP and Lib Dems.
It appears the two parties were concerned about the consultation clashing with the European election campaign.
These proposals are particularly contentious not least because many of the 129 constituencies will be unrecognisable afterwards and some, like Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's, will disappear altogether.
No doubt the SNP and Lib Dems did not want any minor electoral distractions from arguing over them.

Here's the e-mail:

Dear all,
Hugh Buchanan, Secretary to the Boundary Commission for Scotland, has asked me to pass on the below information. Should you require any further information on this, can I ask that you contact Hugh directly.
At last week's PPP meeting, there was a discussion about the Boundary Commission for Scotland's intention to publish its Revised Recommendations for Constituencies and Provisional Proposals for Regions on 7 May 2009.
Political parties expressed concern that the ensuing one month statutory consultation period would be so closely aligned with the preparations for the European elections to be held on 4 June. I undertook to discuss with the Commission the possibility of rescheduling the publication of their proposals.
The Commission met on Monday 20 April, and when discussing this issue concluded that the consultation process is likely to be improved if the publication is put back to 21 May 2009. The statutory consultation period will then run until 21 June 2009.
Kind regards,
Mark Nicholls Senior Political Parties Liaison Officer The Electoral Commission