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That is great to hear. Before we hear questions from other committee members, I will give Margaret Davidson and Douglas Hendry an opportunity to go into the detail of why their councils hold the views they hold about the proposals. Perhaps Douglas can expand a bit on why there is a split perspective on some aspects of the proposals. That would be helpful.

Thank you both. The next question from Paul McLennan will move to a different theme. I suggest that colleagues ask their question and then direct it to somebody to kick off, so that the witnesses get some guidance on who should start.

It is great to hear in more detail about Boundaries Scotland’s good work and how well it has been listening in Shetland and Orkney.

Elena Whitham would like to explore a couple of themes.

We will shift themes a little and look a bit more at the Electoral Reform Society’s work on electoral parity.

We have a range of questions that will help us to dig into some of what you have just highlighted in your opening remarks. Let us see how we go. There will be a little time at the end for the three of you to highlight anything that might not have been brought to light in our questioning.

Elena Whitham has a couple of questions.

Thank you, Margaret. We move to Derek Mackay, and then Douglas Hendry. To frame the contributions a bit more, perhaps you could mention specifically anything that has not so far come to light with regard to the committee’s work on the Boundaries Scotland review.

Thank you, Margaret. Derek, can you give your perspective?

I read the report by the Electoral Reform Society in preparation for the meeting. It was interesting that the report compared the average population per square kilometre in Scotland’s wards to those in the UK and European Union. This may not apply to Shetland and Orkney, but I was struck that the average local authority in Scotland has 163,200 residents, whereas the EU average is 5,630. The report also says that the UK has one councillor for every 2,860 people, whereas Finland has one for every 500.

Those figures might be part of a bigger conversation about real local representation. Our conversation today is about proposed boundaries. Are we on a journey towards more localised representation and a different way of working together? Has that been explored in Shetland or Orkney?

Thank you for the responses so far. I note an interest, which is that I am an MSP for Highlands and Islands. All the council representatives taking part today represent councils that are in my region. North Ayrshire is not in my region, but the council is not represented at the meeting.

I will bring in Meghan Gallacher, who will shift the focus a little bit.