Edinburgh South West (UK Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh South West
Burgh constituency
for the House of Commons

Boundary of Edinburgh South West in Scotland.
Subdivisions of Scotland City of Edinburgh
Current constituency
Created 2005 (2005)
Member of Parliament Alistair Darling (Labour)
Created from Edinburgh Pentlands and Edinburgh Central
Overlaps
European Parliament 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.

Contents

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 straddled the boundary with the East Lothian council area, to include Musselburgh.

Edinburgh South West is mostly a replacement 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.

Member of Parliament

Since its creation, the seat has been represented by Alistair Darling, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, who previously represented the former seat of Edinburgh Central from 1987 to 2005.

This seat was formed from Edinburgh Central and Edinburgh Pentlands.

Edinburgh Central

Edinburgh Pentlands

Edinburgh South West

Election results

General Election 2010: Edinburgh South West[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alistair Darling 19,473 42.8 +3.0
Conservative Jason Rust 11,026 24.3 +1.0
Liberal Democrat Tim McKay 8,194 18.0 -3.1
SNP Kaukab Stewart 5,530 12.2 +1.6
Scottish Green Clare Cooney 872 1.9 -1.6
Scottish Socialist Colin Fox 319 0.7 -0.6
Communist League Caroline Bellamy[3] 48 0.1 N/A
Majority 8,447 18.6 +2.1
Turnout 45,462 68.5 +3.5
Labour hold Swing +1.0
General Election 2005: Edinburgh South West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alistair Darling 17,476 39.8 N/A
Conservative Gordon Buchan 10,234 23.3 N/A
Liberal Democrats Simon Clark 9,252 21.1 N/A
SNP Nick Elliott-Cannon 4,654 10.6 N/A
Scottish Green John Blair-Fish 1,520 3.5 N/A
Scottish Socialist Pat Smith 585 1.3 N/A
UKIP William Boys 205 0.5 N/A
Majority 7,242 16.5
Turnout 43,926 65.4
Labour win (new seat)

Notes and references

  1. ^ Fifth Periodical Review, Boundary Commission for Scotland
  2. ^ Edinburgh South West, UKPollingReport
  3. ^ Hugo Wils and Paul Davies, "UK: Protesters confront anti-Muslim rightists", The Militant, 12 April 2010

See also

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath		 Constituency represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
2007 – 2010		 Succeeded by
Tatton
Constituencies in Scotland by Holding Party (59)
Labour (41)
Liberal Democrat (11)
Scottish National Party (6)
Conservative (1)