Edinburgh South West (UK Parliament constituency)

Edinburgh South West
Edinburgh South West
Burgh constituency; for the House of Commons
	Interactive map of boundaries from 2024
	Location within Scotland
Subdivisions of Scotland	City of Edinburgh
Major settlements	Wester Hailes, Bonaly, Balerno, Gorgie
Current constituency
Created	2005
Member of Parliament	Scott Arthur (Labour)
Created from	Edinburgh Pentlands and Edinburgh Central

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.

Constituency profile

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

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

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

Election results

Elections in the 2020s

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	New
	Independent	Marc Wilkinson	181	0.4	New
Majority			6,217	13.6	N/A
Turnout			45,664	61.9	9.2
Registered electors			73,784
	Labour gain from SNP		Swing	23.4

Elections in the 2010s

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	New
	Brexit Party	David Ballantine	625	1.2	New
	SDP	Mev Brown	114	0.2	New
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

2015 general election: Edinburgh South West^[10]^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Joanna Cherry^[12]	22,168	43.0	30.8
	Labour	Ricky Henderson^[13]	14,033	27.2	15.6
	Conservative	Gordon Lindhurst^[14]	10,444	20.2	4.1
	Scottish Green	Richard Doherty^[15]	1,965	3.8	1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Daniel Farthing-Sykes^[16]	1,920	3.7	14.3
	UKIP	Richard Lucas^[17]	1,072	2.1	New
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^[18]
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	New
Majority			8,447	18.5	2.0
Turnout			45,462	68.5	3.1
	Labour hold		Swing	1.0

Elections in the 2000s

2005 general election: Edinburgh South West^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alistair Darling	17,476	39.8	−4.6
	Conservative	Gordon Buchan	10,234	23.3	−3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Simon Clark	9,252	21.1	+9.4
	SNP	Nick Elliott-Cannon	4,654	10.6	−2.8
	Scottish Green	John Blair-Fish	1,520	3.5	New
	Scottish Socialist	Pat Smith	585	1.3	−1.0
	UKIP	William Boys	205	0.5	+0.3
Majority			7,242	16.5	−1.4
Turnout			43,926	65.4
	Labour win (new seat)

References

Specific

^ "Edinburgh South West: Seat Details". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
^ "Fifth Periodical Review". Boundary Commission for Scotland. Archived from the original on 21 September 2007.
^ "Edinburgh South West results". BBC News. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
^ "UK Parliamentary General Election 2024 Edinburgh South West Constituency". City of Edinburgh Council. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
^ "UK Parliamentary General Election – 12 December 2019". The City of Edinburgh Council. The City of Edinburgh Council. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
^ "Edinburgh South West parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
^ "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.
^ "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.
^ "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.
^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ 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.
^ Gardham, Magnus (30 January 2015). "SNP pin election hopes on high profile Yes campaigners". The Herald. Glasgow. Archived from the original on 30 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
^ Stephen, Phyllis (22 November 2018). "Ricky Demarco leads the charge against demolition of St John's". The Edinburgh Reporter.
^ "Gordon Lindhurst selected for Edinburgh South West". Edinburgh Conservative and Unionist Federation. 22 April 2014. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
^ https://twitter.comSighthillGorgie^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "General Election 2015 Candidates – Liberal Democrats". Archived from the original on 13 April 2014.
^ "UK Polling Report". ukpollingreport.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

General

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)

External links

Edinburgh South West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2005 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
Edinburgh South West UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath	Constituency represented by the chancellor of the Exchequer 2007–2010	Succeeded by Tatton

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

[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. 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.

[CBP-8749-7] "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.

[CBP-7979-9] "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.

[electoralcalculus2015-10] "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] Gardham, Magnus (30 January 2015). "SNP pin election hopes on high profile Yes campaigners". The Herald. Glasgow. Archived from the original on 30 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.

[13] Stephen, Phyllis (22 November 2018). "Ricky Demarco leads the charge against demolition of St John's". The Edinburgh Reporter.

[14] "Gordon Lindhurst selected for Edinburgh South West". Edinburgh Conservative and Unionist Federation. 22 April 2014. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.

[15] ttps://twitter.comSighthillGorgie^{[permanent dead link]}

[16] "General Election 2015 Candidates – Liberal Democrats". Archived from the original on 13 April 2014.

[17] "UK Polling Report". ukpollingreport.co.uk. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2015.

[electoralcalculus2010-18] "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.

[electoralcalculus2005-19] "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

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v t e Edinburgh constituencies
Current	Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Edinburgh West
Historic	Edinburgh (1708–1885) Edinburgh Central (1885–2005) Edinburgh East (1885–1997, 2005–2024) Edinburgh North (1918–1983) Edinburgh Leith (1950–1997) Edinburgh Pentlands (1950–2005)

v t e UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland by holding party (57)
Labour (37)	Airdrie and Shotts Alloa and Grangemouth Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Bathgate and Linlithgow Central Ayrshire Coatbridge and Bellshill Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch Dunfermline and Dollar East Kilbride and Strathaven East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Falkirk Glasgow East Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glasgow West Glenrothes and Mid Fife Hamilton and Clyde Valley Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West Kilmarnock and Loudoun Livingston Lothian East Midlothian Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire and Arran Paisley and Renfrewshire North Paisley and Renfrewshire South Rutherglen Stirling and Strathallan West Dunbartonshire
Scottish National Party (9)	Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Aberdeenshire North and Moray East Angus and Perthshire Glens Arbroath and Broughty Ferry Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber Dundee Central Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey Perth and Kinross-shire
Liberal Democrat (6)	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Edinburgh West Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire Mid Dunbartonshire North East Fife Orkney and Shetland
Conservative (5)	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk Dumfries and Galloway Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale Gordon and Buchan West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

v t e Scottish Westminster constituencies
1708 to 1832 1832 to 1868 1868 to 1885 1885 to 1918 1918 to 1950 1950 to 1955 1955 to 1974 1974 to 1983 1983 to 1997 1997 to 2005 2005 to 2024
Current constituencies (2024)
Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Aberdeenshire North and Moray East Airdrie & Shotts Alloa & Grangemouth Angus & Perthshire Glens Arbroath & Broughty Ferry Argyll, Bute & South Lochaber Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock Bathgate & Linlithgow Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge & Bellshill Cowdenbeath & Kirkcaldy Cumbernauld & Kirkintilloch Dumfries & Galloway Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Dundee Central Dunfermline & Dollar East Kilbride & Strathaven East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East & Musselburgh Edinburgh North & Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Edinburgh West Falkirk Glasgow East Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glasgow West Glenrothes & Mid Fife Gordon & Buchan Hamilton & Clyde Valley Inverclyde & Renfrewshire West Inverness, Skye & West Ross-shire Kilmarnock & Loudoun Livingston Lothian East Mid Dunbartonshire Midlothian Moray West, Nairn & Strathspey Motherwell, Wishaw & Carluke Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire & Arran North East Fife Orkney & Shetland Paisley & Renfrewshire North Paisley & Renfrewshire South Perth & Kinross-shire Rutherglen Stirling & Strathallan West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine West Dunbartonshire