Alistair Darling is driving through the plans in time for the next election

An order has been laid before MPs backing the Boundary Commission's proposals to reduce the number of Scottish constituencies from 72 to 59.

The government wants to make Scottish constituencies the same size as seats in England.

Both Houses of Parliament are expected to see the measure through in time for the next general election.

Scottish Secretary Alistair Darling previously told MPs he intended to lay parliamentary orders as soon as possible to bring the changes in before the public goes to the polls.

Restoring parity

English constituencies currently contain nearly 70,000 voters on average, far more than the Scottish average of 53,500.

The move is seen as a means of restoring parity following the devolution settlement, which supporters say made the need for extra Scottish MPs redundant.

The Scotland Act, which paved the way for the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, contained an agreement to end the anomaly of Scotland's over-representation at Westminster.

Mr Darling told Scottish Questions recently that he intended to lay parliamentary orders "as quickly as possible".

He said: "All being well - assuming it gets the approval of both houses - I hope it will be in force in February, in ample time for an election that may take place next year or indeed the year after."

The report itself is not expected to signal any change to the series of recommendations made by the Boundary Commission on the future shape of MPs' constituencies.

The final recommendations in the fifth periodical review were released in December last year following a lengthy consultation exercise and a series of public inquiries.

A number of Cabinet ministers face seeing their constituencies disappear in the redistribution, including Chancellor Gordon Brown, Health Secretary John Reid and even Mr Darling himself.