Edinburgh West (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Edinburgh West Burgh constituency |
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|---|---|
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| Edinburgh West shown within Scotland | |
| Created: | 1885 |
| MP: | John Barrett |
| Party: | Liberal Democrats |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| Council areas: | City of Edinburgh |
| EP constituency: | Scotland |
Edinburgh West is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster), first used in the 1885 general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Prior to the 2005 general election the constituency had the same boundaries as the Scottish Parliament constituency with the same name, which had been created in 1999. See Edinburgh West (Scottish Parliament constituency).
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[edit] Boundaries
The constituency was created when the Edinburgh constituency was abolished, in 1885, in favour of four new constituencies: Edinburgh East, Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West. The Central constituency was abolished in 2005. The East constituency was abolished in 1997, but a new Edinburgh East was created in 2005. The South and West constituencies have been in continuous use (with alterations to boundaries) since 1885.
In 1918 the constituency consisted of the "Dalry, Gorgie, Haymarket and St. Bernard's Municipal Wards of Edinburgh."
Prior to the 2005 general election, Edinburgh West was one of six constituencies covering the City of Edinburgh council area. Five were entirely within the city council area. One, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, straddled the boundary with the East Lothian council area to take in Musselburgh.
Constituency boundaries were revised for the 2005 election. Edinburgh West was enlarged, to include an area formerly within Edinburgh Central, and became one of five constituencies covering the city area.[1]
The constituency now covers a north western portion of the city area. It is mostly suburban, but takes in rural areas within the city area, to the west of central Edinburgh. In terms of wards used in elections to the City of Edinburgh Council, 1999 to 2007, the constituency includes the wards of Cramond, Dalmeny and Kirkliston, Davidson's Mains, East Craigs, Gyle, Muirhouse and Drylaw, Murrayfield, North East Corstorphine, Queensferry, South East Corstorphine and Stenhouse. These wards are due to be replaced with new wards in 2007, as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004.
[edit] Members of Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | Thomas Ryburn Buchanan | Liberal | |
| 1886 | Liberal Unionist | ||
| 1888 | Liberal | ||
| 1892 | Viscount Wolmer | Liberal Unionist | |
| 1895 | Lewis McIver | Liberal Unionist | |
| 1909 | James Avon Clyde | Liberal Unionist | |
| 1918 | John Gordon Jameson | Coalition Conservative | |
| 1922 | Henry Vivian Phillipps | Liberal | |
| 1924 | Ian MacIntyre | Unionist | |
| 1929 | George Mathers | Liberal | |
| 1931 | Wilfrid Guild Normand, | Unionist | |
| 1935 | Thomas Mackay Cooper | Unionist | |
| 1941 | Ian Clark Hutchison | Unionist | |
| 1959 | James Anthony Stodart | Unionist/Conservative | |
| 1974 | Lord James Douglas-Hamilton | Conservative | |
| 1997 | Donald Gorrie | Liberal Democrat | |
| 2001 | John Andrew Barrett | Liberal Democrat | |
[edit] Election results
| General Election 2005: Edinburgh West | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | John Barrett | 22,417 | 49.5% | +11.2 | |
| Conservative | David Brogan | 8,817 | 19.5% | -2.2 | |
| Labour | Navraj Singh Ghaleigh | 8,433 | 18.6% | -7.9 | |
| Scottish National Party | Sheena Cleland | 4,124 | 9.1% | -1.6 | |
| Scottish Green | Ailsa Spindler | 964 | 2.1% | +2.1 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Gary Clark | 510 | 1.1% | -1.0 | |
| Majority | 13600 | 30.0% | |||
| Turnout | 45,265 | 68.9 | +5.4 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | +6.7 | |||
| General Election 2001: Edinburgh West | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | John Barrett | 16,719 | 42.4 | -0.9 | |
| Labour | Elspeth Alexandra | 9,130 | 23.1 | +4.3 | |
| Conservative | Iain Whyte | 8,894 | 22.5 | -5.4 | |
| Scottish National Party | Alyn Smith | 4,047 | 10.3 | +1.4 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Bill Scott | 688 | 1.7 | N/A | |
| Majority | 7,589 | 19.3 | |||
| Turnout | 39,478 | 63.2 | -14.8 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | ||||
| General Election 1992: Edinburgh West | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Lord James Douglas-Hamilton | 18,071 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Donald Gorrie | 17,192 | |||
| Labour | Ms I Kitson | 7,759 | |||
| Scottish National Party | Graham Sutherland | 4,117 | |||
| Liberal | A. Fleming | 272 | N/A | ||
| Scottish Green | Ms L. Hendry | 234 | |||
| British National | D. Bruce | 133 | |||
| Majority | 879 | ||||
| Turnout | 82.67 | ||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
| By-election 1941: Edinburgh West | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Lt Com Ian Clark Hutchison RN | unopposed | |||
| General Election 1931: Edinburgh West | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Wilfrid Guild Normand KC | 31,407 | |||
| Labour | George Mathers | 12,704 | |||
| General Election 1906: Edinburgh West | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Conservative | Sir Lewis McIver Bt | 3,949 | 52.0 | ||
| Liberal | Rt Hon Leonard Courtney | 3,643 | 48.0 | ||
[edit] Politics and history of the constituency
This commuter belt constituency, distinctively in the city, was a safe Unionist/Conservative seat for over 65 years, from 1931 general election until the 1997 general election; since that election the seat has been held by the Liberal Democrats.
