Edinburgh West is a

burgh constituency A burgh constituency is a type of parliamentary constituency in Scotland. It is a constituency which is predominantly urban, and on this basis has been designated as a burgh constituency. They are the successors of the historic parliamentary bur ...

of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, first contested at the 1885 general election. Prior to the 2005 general election, the boundaries were the same as the eponymous constituency of the Scottish Parliament, which had been created in 1999. This commuter belt seat, distinctively in the city, was Unionist/

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

for over 65 years, from the 1931 general election until the 1997 general election, although the Liberal/SDP Alliance and later the Liberal Democrats repeatedly came close to winning in the 1980s and early 1990s. After 1997, the seat was held by the Liberal Democrats until the 2015 general election. The

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) between the 2015 and 2017 general elections was

Michelle Thomson Michelle Rhonda Thomson (née Perks; born 11 March 1965) is a Scottish businesswoman and Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Falkirk East since May 2021. Thomson is the co-fou ...

, who was elected for the Scottish National Party (SNP) in May 2015. In September 2015, she resigned the party whip and sat as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. Thomson chose not to seek reelection either for the SNP or as an Independent candidate. At the 2017 general election,

Christine Jardine Christine Anne Jardine (born 24 November 1960) is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician serving as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Women and Equalities, the Cabinet Office and Scotland since July 2022. She was elected as the Member o ...

of the Liberal Democrats gained the seat with a majority of 2,988 votes. The seat has been relative to others a marginal seat since 2005, as the winner's majority has not exceeded 8.2% of the vote since the 30% majority won in that year. The seat has changed hands twice electorally since that year and once through resigning the party whip.

Constituency profile

This is an affluent, left-leaning and pro-European seat covering the northwestern portion of Edinburgh. It is mostly suburban, but takes in rural areas within the

council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...

including Kirkliston and South Queensferry.

Edinburgh Airport Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by ...

and Murrayfield Stadium are within the seat.

Boundaries

The seat was created when the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

constituency was abolished, in 1885, replaced by four seats:

Edinburgh East Edinburgh East is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. In present form, the constituency was first used at t ...

, 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. The

Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...

provided that the seat was to consist of the municipal wards of St. Andrew, St. Stephen, St. Bernard, St. Luke. In 1918 the seat legally consisted of the Dalry, Gorgie, Haymarket and St. Bernard's municipal wards of Edinburgh. Before the 2005 general election, the seat was one of six covering the

City of Edinburgh council area The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

. Five were entirely within the city council area. One, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, straddled the boundary with the

East Lothian council area East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

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 seats covering the city area. From 1997 to 2007 the seat comprised the following wards:

Cramond Cramond Village (; gd, Cathair Amain) is a village and suburb in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland, at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth. The Cramond area has evidence of Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Roman ac ...

, Dalmeny and Kirkliston,

Davidson's Mains Davidson's Mains is a former village and now a district in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is adjacent to the districts of Barnton, Cramond, Silverknowes, Blackhall and Corbiehill/House O'Hill. It was absorbed into Edinburgh as par ...

East Craigs East Craigs is a residential district of Edinburgh located in the north-west of the city, on the western flanks of Corstorphine Hill. It lies next to the green belt, and prior to development was a working farm. Development of the area began in ...

Gyle South Gyle (pronounced ) is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, lying on the western edge of the city and to the south and west of an area of former marshland once known as the Gogarloch, on the edge of Corstorphine. Most of the buildings in th ...

, Muirhouse and Drylaw,

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an affluent area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen and Roseburn. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often con ...

, North East Corstorphine, Queensferry, South East Corstorphine and Stenhouse. As of 2007, as a result of the

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 9) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which provided, amongst other things, for the election of councillors to the local authorities in Scotland by the single transferable vote system. The Commissi ...

, none of the new Edinburgh wards were wholly within the constituency. Almond and Constorphine/Murrayfield are almost entirely within it except for a small corner of each one. The constituency also includes a majority of Drum Brae/Gyle, a minority of

Pentland Hills The Pentland Hills are a range of hills southwest of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around in length, and runs southwest from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale. Etymology The name is first recorded for the farm of Pentla ...

and small sections of

Forth Forth or FORTH may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''forth'' magazine, an Internet magazine * ''Forth'' (album), by The Verve, 2008 * ''Forth'', a 2011 album by Proto-Kaw * Radio Forth, a group of independent local radio stations in Scotla ...

Inverleith Inverleith (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Lìte'') is an inner suburb in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the fringes of the central region of the city. Its neighbours include Trinity to the north and the New Town to the south, with Canonmills ...

, City Centre and Sighthill/Gorgie.

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

Elections in the 2000s

Elections in the 1990s

Elections in the 1980s

Elections in the 1970s

Elections in the 1960s

Elections in the 1950s

Elections in the 1940s

Elections in the 1930s

Elections in the 1920s

Elections in the 1910s

Elections in the 1900s

Portrait of Leonard Courtney, 1st Baron Courtney of Penwith

Elections in the 1890s

Elections in the 1880s

* Caused by Buchanan's resignation to seek re-election as a Liberal candidate.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edinburgh West (Uk Parliament Constituency) Westminster Parliamentary constituencies in Scotland Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1885

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...