Edinburgh South West (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Edinburgh South West Burgh constituency |
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| Edinburgh South West shown within Scotland | |
| Created: | 2005 |
| MP: | Alistair Darling |
| Party: | Labour |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| Council areas: | City of Edinburgh |
| EP constituency: | Scotland |
Edinburgh South West is a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster), first used in the 2005 general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
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[edit] Boundaries
Edinburgh South West is one of five constituencies covering the City of Edinburgh council area. All are entirely within the city council area.
Prior to the 2005 general election, the city area had been covered by six constituencies and, of the six, there was one, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, which staddled the boundary with the East Lothian council area, to include Musselburgh.
Edinburgh South West is mostly a relacement for the former Edinburgh Pentlands constituency, but excludes some of the east of that constituency. Also, it includes a south western portion of the former Edinburgh Central constituency. [1] Scottish Parliament constituencies retain the boundaries of the older Westminster constituencies.
Edinburgh South West covers a south western portion of the city area. It has an urban north east and a suburban centre. The remainder is rural, and runs into the Pentland Hills in the south. In terms of wards used in elections to the City of Edinburgh Council, 1999 to 2007, the constituency includes the wards of Balerno, Baberton, Colinton, Craiglockhart, Dalry, Firrhill, Fountainbridge, Moat, Murrayburn, Parkhead, Shandon and Sighthill. As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, these wards are due to be replaced with new wards in 2007.
[edit] Member of Parliament
This seat was formed from Edinburgh Central and Edinburgh Pentlands.
Edinburgh Central
- to 1987 Sir Alex Fletcher (Conservative)
- from 1987 - 2005 Alistair Darling (Labour)
Edinburgh Pentlands
- 1974 - 1997 Malcolm Rifkind (Conservative)
- 1997 - 2005 Lynda Clark (Labour)
Edinburgh South West
- 2005 - present Alistair Darling Labour
[edit] Election results
| General Election 2005: Edinburgh South West | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Alistair Darling | 17,476 | 39.8% | -4.6 | |
| Conservative | Gordon Buchan | 10,234 | 23.3% | -3.2 | |
| Liberal Democrat | Simon Clark | 9,252 | 21.1% | +9.4 | |
| Scottish National Party | Nick Elliott-Cannon | 4,654 | 10.6% | -2.8 | |
| Scottish Green | John Blair-Fish | 1,520 | 3.5% | +3.5 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Pat Smith | 585 | 1.3% | -1.0 | |
| UK Independence | William Boys | 205 | 0.5% | +0.3 | |
| Majority | 7,242 | 16.5% | |||
| Turnout | 43,926 | 65.4 | +6.8 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | -0.7 | |||
| General Election 2001: Edinburgh Pentlands | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Lynda Clark | 15,797 | 40.6 | -2.4 | |
| Conservative | Malcolm Rifkind | 14,055 | 36.1 | +3.7 | |
| Liberal Democrat | David Walker | 4,210 | 10.8 | +0.8 | |
| Scottish National Party | Stewart Gibb | 4,210 | 10.8 | -2.2 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Jimmy Mearns | 555 | 1.4 | N/A | |
| UK Independence | Bill McMurdo | 105 | 0.3 | +0.1 | |
| Majority | 1,742 | 4.5 | |||
| Turnout | 38,932 | 64.4 | -12.3 | ||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
