Wikipedia

Edinburgh South West (UK Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh South West is a Scottish constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, first used at the 2005 UK general election. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Since 2024, it has been represented by Scott Arthur of the Labour Party.

Edinburgh South West
Burgh constituency
for the House of Commons
Map
Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
Location within Scotland
Subdivisions of ScotlandCity of Edinburgh
Major settlementsWester Hailes, Bonaly, Balerno, Gorgie
Current constituency
Created2005
Member of ParliamentScott Arthur (Labour)
Created fromEdinburgh Pentlands and Edinburgh Central

Constituency profile

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Edinburgh South West covers a south western portion of the city around the Lanark Road. It has an urban north east including Gorgie and Slateford, and a suburban centre including Wester Hailes. The southwest part is rural and extends into the Pentland Hills.

The seat is left-leaning and pro-EU, with wealthier residents than the UK average.[1]

Boundaries

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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.[2] The Scottish Parliament uses different boundaries. Edinburgh South West is mostly contained within the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency for elections to the Scottish Parliament, with some parts of the north and east of the seat being located in the constituencies of Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh Southern and Edinburgh Western.

The constituency comprises the following wards of the City of Edinburgh Council which were used in elections to the council at the time of the constituency's first contest in 2005: 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 were replaced with new wards in 2007. Current ward boundaries are not aligned with the constituency boundaries.

The boundary was adjusted for the 2024 general election by the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies to include parts of the following wards of the City of Edinburgh:

  • Pentland Hills, Drum Brae/Gyle, Sighthill/Gorgie, Colinton/Fairmilehead, Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart, Morningside, and City Centre.

Members of Parliament

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Election Member Party
2005 Alistair Darling Labour
2015 Joanna Cherry SNP
2024 Scott Arthur Labour

Election results

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Elections in the 2020s

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2024 general election: Edinburgh South West[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Scott Arthur 18,663 40.9 +26.6
SNP Joanna Cherry 12,446 27.3 −20.3
Conservative Sue Webber 5,558 12.2 −12.4
Scottish Green Dan Heap 3,450 7.6 +5.2
Liberal Democrats Bruce Wilson 3,014 6.6 −2.9
Reform UK Ian Harper 2,087 4.6 +3.4
Scottish Family Richard Lucas 265 0.6 N/A
Independent Marc Wilkinson 181 0.4 N/A
Majority 6,217 13.6 N/A
Turnout 45,664 61.9 −9.0
Labour gain from SNP Swing

Elections in the 2010s

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2019 general election: Edinburgh South West[5][6][7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Joanna Cherry 24,830 47.6 +12.0
Conservative Callum Laidlaw 12,848 24.6 −8.8
Labour Sophie Cooke 7,478 14.3 −12.5
Liberal Democrats Tom Inglis 4,971 9.5 +5.2
Scottish Green Ben Parker 1,265 2.4 N/A
Brexit Party David Ballantine 625 1.2 N/A
SDP Mev Brown 114 0.2 N/A
Majority 11,982 23.0 +20.8
Turnout 52,131 70.9 +1.5
SNP hold Swing +10.4
2017 general election: Edinburgh South West[8][9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Joanna Cherry 17,575 35.6 −7.4
Conservative Miles Briggs 16,478 33.4 +13.2
Labour Foysol Choudhury 13,213 26.8 −0.4
Liberal Democrats Aisha Mir 2,124 4.3 +0.6
Majority 1,097 2.2 −13.6
Turnout 49,390 69.4 −2.1
SNP hold Swing -10.2
See also: Opinion polling in United Kingdom constituencies, 2010–15 § Edinburgh South West
2015 general election: Edinburgh South West[10][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Joanna Cherry 22,168 43.0 +30.8
Labour Ricky Henderson 14,033 27.2 −15.6
Conservative Gordon Lindhurst 10,444 20.2 −4.1
Scottish Green Richard Doherty 1,965 3.8 +1.9
Liberal Democrats Daniel Farthing-Sykes 1,920 3.7 −14.3
UKIP Richard Lucas 1,072 2.1 N/A
Majority 8,135 15.8 N/A
Turnout 51,602 71.5 +3.0
SNP gain from Labour Swing +23.2
2010 general election: Edinburgh South West[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Alistair Darling 19,473 42.8 +3.0
Conservative Jason Rust 11,026 24.3 +1.0
Liberal Democrats 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 48 0.1 N/A
Majority 8,447 18.5 +2.0
Turnout 45,462 68.5 +3.1
Labour hold Swing -1.0

Elections in the 2000s

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2005 general election: Edinburgh South West[13]
Party Candidate Votes %
Labour Alistair Darling 17,476 39.8
Conservative Gordon Buchan 10,234 23.3
Liberal Democrats Simon Clark 9,252 21.1
SNP Nick Elliott-Cannon 4,654 10.6
Scottish Green John Blair-Fish 1,520 3.5
Scottish Socialist Pat Smith 585 1.3
UKIP William Boys 205 0.5
Majority 7,242 16.5
Turnout 43,926 65.4
Labour win (new seat)

See also

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References

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Specific
  1. ^ "Edinburgh South West: Seat Details". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Fifth Periodical Review". Boundary Commission for Scotland. Archived from the original on 21 September 2007.
  3. ^ "Edinburgh South West results". BBC News. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  4. ^ "UK Parliamentary General Election 2024 Edinburgh South West Constituency". City of Edinburgh Council. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
  5. ^ "UK Parliamentary General Election – 12 December 2019". The City of Edinburgh Council. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  6. ^ "Edinburgh South West parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Who you can vote for: UK Parliamentary General Election 8 June 2017 candidates". City of Edinburgh Council. Archived from the original on 14 May 2017. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
  10. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  11. ^ Council, The City of Edinburgh. "UK Parliamentary election results 2015 | The City of Edinburgh Council". www.edinburgh.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  12. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
General
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Constituency represented by the chancellor of the Exchequer
2007–2010 		Succeeded by

55°53′00″N 3°18′32″W / 55.88333°N 3.30889°W / 55.88333; -3.30889

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