"A Bill will be introduced to retain the current number of members in the Scottish Parliament."

Holyrood will retain the same number of MSPs, if this Bill becomes law.

This Bill will mean that changes to Westminster constituency boundaries will not affect the number of MSPs in Holyrood.

The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Bill will amend the Scotland Act 1998 to break the link between Westminster boundaries and the number of MSPs. As a result, all 129 MSPs at Holyrood will be retained, despite the reduction in the number of Scottish MPs.

In the future, reviews of Scottish parliamentary constituencies will be undertaken separately from any review of Westminster constituencies.

A public consultation was carried out between December 2001 and March 2002. The majority of respondents were in favour of retaining the current size of the Scottish Parliament.

House of Commons

First reading: November 27 2003 (HC Bill 4)

Second reading: February 9 2004

Committee stage and remaining stages: May 4 2004

House of Lords

First reading: May 5 2004 (HL Bill 68)

Second reading: May 25 2005

Committee stage: June 21 2004

Report stage: July 6 2004

Third reading: July 13 2004

Royal assent July 22 2004

Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004