Politics of Edinburgh

The politics of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, are evident in the deliberations and decisions of the city council of Edinburgh, in elections to the council, and in elections to the Scottish Parliament, the House of Commons, and the European Parliament.

Also, as Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh is host to the Scottish Parliament and the main offices of the Scottish Government.

In the European Parliament the city area is within the Scotland constituency, which covers all of the 32 council areas of Scotland.

The City of Edinburgh became a unitary council area in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, with the boundaries of the City of Edinburgh district of the Lothian region. The district had been created in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to include: the former county of city of Edinburgh; the former burgh of South Queensferry, a Kirkliston area and part of a Winchburgh area formerly within the county of West Lothian; and Currie and Cramond areas formerly within the county of Midlothian.

As one of the unitary local government areas of Scotland, the City of Edinburgh has a defined structure of governance, generally under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, with the City of Edinburgh Council governing on matters of local administration such as housing, planning, local transport, parks and local economic development and regeneration. For such purposes the City of Edinburgh is divided into 17 wards.

The next tier of government is that of the Scottish Parliament, which legislates on matters of Scottish "national interest", such as healthcare, education, the environment and agriculture, devolved to it by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. For elections to the Scottish Parliament (at the Scottish Parliament Building, in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh), the city area is divided among six Scottish Parliament constituencies, each returning one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), and is within the Lothians electoral region.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom (at the Palace of Westminster) legislates on matters such as taxation, foreign policy, defence, employment and trade. For elections to the House of Commons of this parliament, the city area is divided among five United Kingdom Parliamentary constituencies, with each constituency returning one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Scotland constitutes a single constituency of the European Parliament, in which the electorate of the City of Edinburgh participate in electing seven Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.

1 City of Edinburgh Council
2 Parliament of the United Kingdom
- 2.1 Constituencies since 1708
3 Scottish Parliament
4 Footnotes
- 4.1 See also
  - 4.1.1 Wikipedia articles
  - 4.1.2 External pages

[edit] City of Edinburgh Council

The current Lord Provost of Edinburgh is George Grubb, who replaced Lesley Hinds on May 16, 2007. In Scotland the Lord Provost fulfils many similar roles to that of a Mayor in some other countries.

Elections to the City Council are held every four years electing 58 councillors. The last elections took place in May 2007. The Council is currently controlled by a Liberal Democrat/Scottish National Party coalition.

The City of Edinburgh Council, like all other unitary and island authorities in Scotland, has its powers set out under the terms of the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994.

In 2000, Edinburgh City council abandoned the traditional committee structure in favour of modernised arrangements. The council operates a Cabinet type system led by the Lord Provost, with the day-to-day running of the Council left to the Majority Leader and the Executive, which is appointed by the full members of the council.

[edit] Full Council

Edinburgh City Chambers on the Royal Mile where the city council is based.

The Full Council comprises all of the 58 elected councillors, and for legal purposes constitutes the Local Authority. The Full Council meets once a month on a Thursday, except during recess and holiday periods and is chaired by the Lord Provost. The Full Council retains complete responsibility for:

Electing the Lord Provost and Deputy Leader of the Council;
The delegation of functions to officials including the appointment of the Chief Executive, Chief Officials, members of the Executive, Scrutiny Panels and Committees and resolving disputes;
Voting on council rules, ordinances and standing orders;
Setting the council tax, annual council budget and administering the city's capital investment programme.

[edit] Executive

The Executive is appointed by the Full Council and is composed of 13 members of the Full Council. The functions of the Executive include:

The Leadership of the Council;
Providing political accountability to the decisions of the council;
Arranging public consultation and participation in council activities;
Taking Executive decisions with the council's budget and policy framework approved by the Full Council;
Setting targets for service delivery

[edit] Scrutiny Panels

Scrutiny Panels are responsible for monitoring the performance of the Executive, departments and external organisations which receive funding from the annual council budget. Scrutiny Panels consist of 9 members of the Full Council, who are not members of the Executive, with members drawn from all political party groups to reflect the party balance on the council.

There are seven scrutiny panels covering:

Children and young people
Community services
Development
Environmental quality
Leisure and cultural development
Resource management and audit
Social justice and older people.

[edit] Planning and Regulatory Committees

The Planning committee is principally concerned with issues of planning and development, including the granting of planning permission and street naming. The Regulatory Committee deals with issues such as health and safety and buildings in need of repair as well as determining individual applications for registration and licensing of food premises, bars, restaurants and entertainment venues under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and other statutory powers. Membership of such committees reflects the party balance on the council.

[edit] Local Development Committees

There are 6 local development committees in Edinburgh, one for each Scottish Parliamentary Constituency in the city. Councillors whose ward falls within a parliamentary constituency form the members of each local development committee. Typically, there are 8 to 10 councillors on each committee. Local Development Committees are tasked with dealing with issues that are specific to their local area and influencing the delivery of key council services including street cleaning, urban parks, libraries, local development, road maintenance, traffic and parking issues. Local committees meet several times per year. Members of the public are able to attend and question councillors on issues of specific concern.

[edit] External Committees

The Council also appoints elected members to serve on:

The Licensing Board
Lothian and Borders Police Board
Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Board
Lothian Valuation Joint Board
Forth Estuary Transport Authority

[edit] Elections

Elections to the council are held on a four year cycle, the last being held on Thursday 3 May, 2007.

Members of the council represent 17 electoral areas called wards. As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, multi-member wards were introduced for the 2007 election, each electing three or four councillors by the single transferable vote system, to produce a form of proportional representation. Previously each of 58 wards elected one councillor by the first past the post system of election.

[edit] Council political composition

	Party	Councillors
	Liberal Democrat	17
	Labour	15
	Scottish National Party	12
	Conservative	11
	Scottish Green Party	3

[edit] List of wards and councillors

Multi-member wards introduced for the 2007 council election:

Ward	Map
Almond (3 members) Pentland Hills (3 members) Drum Brae/Gyle (3 members) Forth (4 members) Inverleith (4 members) Corstorphine/Murrayfield (3 members) Sighthill/Gorgie (4 members) Colinton/Fairmilehead (3 members) Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart (3 members) Meadows/Morningside (4 members) City Centre (3 members) Leith Walk (4 members) Leith (3 members) Craigentinny/Duddingston (3 members) Southside/Newington (4 members) Liberton/Gilmerton (4 members) Portobello/Craigmillar (3 members)

Following the local elections on 3 May, 2007, the representation on the council was as follows:

Ward	Councillors	Party
Almond	George Grubb	Liberal Democrat
	Kate Mackenzie	Conservative
	Norman Work	Scottish National Party
Pentland Hills	Ronald Cairns	Scottish National Party
	Ricky Henderson	Labour
	Alistair S Paisley	Conservative
Drum Brae/Gyle	Robert Aldridge	Liberal Democrat
	Jenny Dawe	Liberal Democrat
	Colin Keir	Scottish National Party
Forth	Steve Cardownie	Scottish National Party
	Allan Jackson	Conservative
	Elizabeth Maginnis	Labour
	Elaine Morris	Liberal Democrat
Inverleith	Lesley Hinds	Labour
	Stuart McIvor	Scottish National Party
	Tim McKay	Liberal Democrat
	Iain Whyte	Conservative
Corstorphine/Murrayfield	Jeremy Balfour	Conservative
	Paul Edie	Liberal Democrat
	Phil Wheeler	Liberal Democrat
Sighthill/Gorgie	Nick Elliott-Cannon	Scottish National Party
	Eric Milligan	Labour
	Joanna Toomey	Liberal Democrat
	Donald Wilson	Labour
Colinton/Fairmilehead	Elaine Aitken	Conservative
	Eric Barry	Labour
	Jason Rust	Conservative
Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart	Andrew Burns	Labour
	Gordon Buchan	Conservative
	Jim Lowrie	Liberal Democrat
Meadows/Morningside	Paul Godzik	Labour
	Alison Johnstone	Scottish Green Party
	Marilyne MacLaren	Liberal Democrat
	Mark McInnes	Conservative
City Centre	David Beckett	Scottish National Party
	Charles Dundas	Liberal Democrat
	Joanna Mowatt	Conservative
Leith Walk	Angela Blacklock	Labour
	Deidre Brock	Scottish National Party
	Maggie Chapman	Scottish Green Party
	Louise Lang	Liberal Democrat
Leith	Gordon Munro	Labour
	Rob Munn	Scottish National Party
	Marjorie Thomas	Liberal Democrat
Craigentinny/Duddingston	Ewan Aitken	Labour
	Gary Peacock	Liberal Democrat
	Stefan Tymkewycz	Scottish National Party
Southside/Newington	Steve Burgess	Scottish Green Party
	Gordon Mackenzie	Liberal Democrat
	Ian Perry	Labour
	Cameron Rose	Conservative
Liberton/Gilmerton	Tom Buchanan	Scottish National Party
	Norma Hart	Labour
	Ian Murray	Labour
	Conor Snowden	Liberal Democrat
Portobello/Craigmillar	Michael Bridgeman	Scottish National Party
	Maureen Child	Labour
	Stephen Hawkins	Liberal Democrat
Source: City of Edinburgh Council

[edit] Parliament of the United Kingdom

For elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the city is divided among five constituencies, each of which elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. All five constituencies are entirely within the city area.

Prior to the United Kingdom general election, 2005, Edinburgh House of Commons constituencies had exactly the same names and boundaries as the Scottish Parliament constituencies listed above. However, in order to reduce Scotland's historical over representation in the House of Commons, Scotland's share of constituencies was reduced from 72 to 59, in accordance with proposals drawn up by the Boundary Commission for Scotland. The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 enabled Scottish Parliament constituencies to remain unaltered despite new arrangements for House of Commons constituencies, which resulted in the loss of one Edinburgh constituency and redrawing of boundaries for the others. As a result of the boundary review^[1]^[2]:

Edinburgh Central constituency was abolished and split between the original Edinburgh North and Leith and Edinburgh West constituencies and an entirely new constituency that was created - Edinburgh South West.
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh took in parts of the Edinburgh North and Leith seat, with the town of Musselburgh being transferred into the East Lothian constituency, with the new seat renamed Edinburgh East.
Edinburgh Pentlands constituency was also divided between the new Edinburgh South West seat and the existing Edinburgh South seat.
Edinburgh North and Leith was increased in size by taking in parts of the old Edinburgh Central constituency.
Edinburgh South was expanded in size taking in elements of the old Edinburgh Pentlands seat.
Edinburgh South West was an entirely new constituency created for the 2005 UK general election taking in elements of the old Edinburgh Central seat, the original Edinburgh West seat and Edinburgh Pentlands seat.
Edinburgh West was expanded to include some parts of the defunct Edinburgh Central seat.

Current political composition:

Party	Constituency	Member
Liberal Democrat	Edinburgh West	John Barrett
Labour	Edinburgh South West	Alistair Darling
Labour	Edinburgh South	Nigel Griffiths
Labour	Edinburgh North and Leith	Mark Lazarowicz
Labour Co-operative	Edinburgh East	Gavin Strang

[edit] Constituencies since 1708

Edinburgh has been used in ten different constituency names since 1708, the date of the first election to the Parliament of Great Britain (which was merged into the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1801). There have been up to six Edinburgh constituencies at any one time.

Two names, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West have been in continuous use since 1885. One name, Edinburgh East, also first used in 1885, fell out of use in 1997 and returned to use in 2005.

Survival of a name does not in itself mean that a constituency's boundaries have been unaltered.

Lists of constituencies:

Period	Constituencies
1708 to 1885	Edinburgh
1885 to 1918	Edinburgh Central , Edinburgh East, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West
1918 to 1950	Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh East, Edinburgh Leith, Edinburgh North, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West
1950 to 1983	Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh East, Edinburgh Leith, Edinburgh North, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West
1983 to 1997	Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh East, Edinburgh Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West
1997 to 2005	Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South and Edinburgh West
2005 to present	Edinburgh East, Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh South West and Edinburgh West

[edit] Scottish Parliament

For elections to the Scottish Parliament, the city is divided among six of the nine constituencies in the Lothians electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional members (also called MSPs) to produce a form of proportional representation.

One of the Edinburgh constituencies includes Musselburgh, which is outside the city, in East Lothian.

Until the United Kingdom general election, 2005, Edinburgh Scottish Parliament and Parliament of the United Kingdom constituencies were coterminous (shared the same geographical boundaries). The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004, a piece of United Kingdom Parliament legislation, had removed the link, to enable Scottish Parliament constituencies to retain established boundaries despite the introduction of new boundaries for United Kingdom Parliament constituencies.

In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, the six Edinburgh constituencies elected two Labour MSPs, two Liberal Democrat MSPs, one Conservative MSP, and one Scottish National Party MSP:

Party	Constituency	Member
Labour	Edinburgh Central	Sarah Boyack
Labour	Edinburgh North and Leith	Malcolm Chisholm
Scottish National Party	Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	Kenny MacAskill
Conservative	Edinburgh Pentlands	David McLetchie
Liberal Democrat	Edinburgh South	Mike Pringle
Liberal Democrat	Edinburgh West	Margaret Smith

The following additional members were elected to represent the Lothians electoral region:

	Party	Member
	Conservative	Gavin Brown
	Labour	George Foulkes
	Scottish Green Party	Robin Harper
	Scottish National Party	Fiona Hyslop
	Independent	Margo MacDonald
	Scottish National Party	Ian McKee
	Scottish National Party	Shirley-Anne Somerville†