The number of Scottish councils should be cut by almost half and their powers boosted to revitalise local government, a think tank has said. It wants to see local authorities reduced from the current 32, to 19. The new councils under the proposed structure would be:

* Ayrshire (comprising East, North and South Ayrshire)
* Dunbartonshire (comprising East and West Dunbartonshire)
* East and Midlothian (comprising East and Midlothian)
* Forth Valley (comprising Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, West Lothian and Stirling)
* Grampian (comprising Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray)
* Lanarkshire (comprising North and South Lanarkshire)
* Renfrewshire (comprising East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire)
* Tayside (comprising Dundee and Angus)
* Argyll and Bute, Perth and Kinross, Dumfries and Galloway, Edinburgh, Eilean Siar, Fife, Glasgow, Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Borders remain unchanged.

Reform Scotland also said health and police boards should be scrapped, and their responsibility added to councils.